Articles Posted in Odd Cases

I would say “only in America,” but this happened in Scotland, pursuant to European human rights laws…. Seems that in some Scottish prisons, for a number of years, the prisoners had to “slop out” (clean out) their own toilets. And? Per the Daily Record:

The slopping-out bonanza began in 2004 when knife-wielding mugger Robert Napier used European human rights law to win a court case against the prison service.

So now Scottish prisoners, and ex-prisoners, are cashing in. As for the title of the post …

A drug dealer used his s2000 compensation payout for “slopping out” in jail to buy heroin to sell to his pals.

The taxpayers’ money allowed scheming junkie Joseph Torano to get a discount on the drugs by buying in bulk.

Here’s how the bust of Mr. Torano went down:

Police raided the house after a tip-off. Hannah Kennedy, prosecuting, said Torano appeared from a bedroom in his underwear and a wrap of heroin fell out of his boxer shorts.

Detectives saw something in his mouth, which turned out to be another package of drugs, and a full body search uncovered a third stash.

And check out the language this Member of Parliament used to describe the situation, which has already cost the Scottish taxpayers millions:

“The SNP Scottish government will end slopping out and clean up the mess these administrations have created.”

Get it? “… clean up the mess …” Brilliant! LAWL. To read more (quite a bit) click here.

Um, a douchebag. Yeah, I’m sure I wouldn’t be too thrilled if I were featured in a book called “Hot Chicks With Douchebags.” As reported by RadarOnline, Mr. Michael Manelli was pissed enough to file a lawsuit against the publisher and Mr. Jay Louis, the author of the book and the creator of the website www.hotchickswithdouchebags.com, for including him in the book.

The lawsuit includes claims for libel, negligent infliction of emotional distress, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and loss of goodwill. Click here for the RadarOnline story, which includes a link to the Complaint filed in Clark County, Nevada.

How can I be so sure? Because, in that bathroom, for several months, was the body of a deceased 90-year-old woman. Seems that Alan Bushey, the leader of a religious group called the Order of the Divine Will (6 members!) told member Tammy Lewis (yes, it was her bathroom), that Ms. Middlesworth (the deceased, and also a sect member) would rise from the dead. In the meantime, Ms. Lewis was cashing Ms. Middlesworth’s Social Security checks! And did I mention that her 12 and 15 year-old kids were living in the house with her?

So what happened to Ms. Lewis? She was facing all kinds of charges, including felonies, but will only have to serve 7 days in jail. Everyone agrees that she was under Mr. Bushey’s spell. I think he’ll be doing considerably more time. Click here to read more (a fair amount).

A 1-year-old boy was waiting for a relative to pick him up at the police station in Schererville, Indiana because his mom was busted for drunk driving. So his dad drove to the station to get him, only he was drunk too, and was also busted for drunk driving. So his grandparents came to get him and … yup, they had been drinking too! But, per the AP, grandma, who had been driving, wasn’t legally drunk, “so officers escorted them home with the child.” On the drinking front anyway, hopefully the apple won’t be anywhere near the tree…

Actually, it would be “bugnapper.” As reported in The South Asian Post:

SILIGURI, India – A Czech national who was sentenced to three years imprisonment by a court for collecting rare insects from a national park in Darjeeling has fled India after jumping bail. Entomologist Emil Kuchera left India by crossing the country’s border with Nepal on Oct 21, the police said. Kuchera left behind his passport that was in the custody of Darjeeling Chief Judicial Magistrate. Kuchera had been arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act on June 22 near Singalila National Park, for collecting rare insects like beetles, butterflies and moths without permission.

I love bugs (fried cicadas, anyone?), but 3 years?! That’s a little harsh. (Please, PETA members, no more emails!) (Unlike this guy, I would never mistreat a living creature.)

It was a bad idea, and it didn’t end well. Per the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Witnesses told township police that [Jay Matthew] Tokar [age 46] was flying his glider dangerously close to children playing soccer in the area.

They also told police Tokar was yelling at people on the golf course and trying to spit on them.

[Witness] Mark J. Gazi told police that Tokar flew the glider so close that at times Gazi could have touched Tokar with his golf club.

Police didn’t test Tokar at the scene but …

…a search warrant served Aug. 28 for Tokar’s medical records revealed his blood-alcohol level was 0.151 percent and he had taken benzodiazepines before the crash. A motorist is considered intoxicated in this state with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent.

How did the ride end?

According to the criminal complaint, after Tokar’s plane struck the cable lines, one of the lines jumped off the pulley system and struck witness James Troutman, injuring him in the left leg.

Tokar’s injuries were much more serious, unlike the time in August 2003 when he …

… crashed his aircraft in the Cobblestone-St. Ives housing plan in Hempfield. It snagged a tree, spun out of control and dropped about 60 feet to the ground.

Tokar was not injured in that crash.

60 feet to the ground and no injuries! For this latest flight, Tokar faces charges of reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. Here’s the source.

Just when you thought you’d heard them all… Check out this excuse for speeding, as reported in The Local:

A woman from southern Sweden has lost her bid to have a speeding fine overturned on the grounds that she was suffering from diarrhea at the time of the offence.

The 49-year-old woman from Trelleborg explained to the local district court that she was experiencing stomach problems when she was pulled over for driving 86 kilometres per hour in a 70 km/h zone.

Only 86 in a 70 zone? How bad could it have been? Said the court:

A situation can only be classed as an emergency if somebody’s life is in danger or if a driver hits the gas in an attempt to prevent a serious crime.

As the woman’s desire to get home to her toilet did not fit into either category, the court ordered her to pay the speeding fine.

Newman!

Would you rather pay your $7.45 Waffle House tab, or spend the weekend in jail? A 66-year-old Florida woman chose the latter, perhaps because she didn’t have $7.45. Perhaps because she’s ornery. Or maybe she’s mentally ill? Maybe she was lit (she placed her order around 3:45 a.m.). Or maybe some combination of the above … Regardless, per the TCPalm:

O’Neill finished … and then left, telling the Waffle House employee she was going across the street to see a friend but would return shortly.

The Waffle House worker notified authorities after O’Neill, of the 100 block of Maple Street, refused to settle the bill.

When police arrived, an officer told O’Neill to pay up or go to jail.

She then told the officer that she was going across the street to see a friend but would return shortly. Really? No! Here’s what really happened: blockquote> “O’Neill said she was not going to pay for her food,” the report states. “I asked O’Neill again to pay for her food and she plain refused to.”

O’Neill, who faces a defrauding an innkeeper charge, was released Monday from the St. Lucie County Jail on her own recognizance, a jail official said.

I’m thinking “time served.”

Why would one think that this young South Carolinian dislikes cats? Per The Post and Courier:

He admitted to killing eight cats — slitting the throats of six kittens and bashing in the skulls of two adult felines.

Brutal. Anything else?

In addition to eight counts of ill-treatment of animals, Campbell faced a harassment charge stemming from threatening telephone calls and profanity-laced e-mails directed at his ex-girlfriend, then 15.

Anything else? Well …

… the ex-girlfriend’s mother, enumerated the horrors her family had observed during nine months they knew Campbell: squirrels killed by the dozens, ducks driven over with a pickup, a cat killed with a shotgun.

The sentence?

After weighing both sides [you can read the entire article – and there’s a lot more – by clicking here], Circuit Judge Markley Dennis imposed a sentence not to exceed five years in the state’s Youthful Offender program on one ill-treatment charge. That included 90 days of boot-camp-style shock incarceration, followed by supervised monitoring.

On a second charge, Dennis handed down five more years of probation to take effect after the Youthful Offender program.

I’d say he got off pretty easy.

James Ramsey, a kindly Scottish granddad, bought a hamster for his grandkids. A few days later, it died. So Mr. Ramsey returned to the same pet store and bought a bird. Soon thereafter, the bird joined the hamster in pet heaven. As President Bush said in Nashville, Tennessee on September 17, 2002:

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

Um. Okay. Anyway, that was one dead pet too many. Mr. Ramsey went to the pet store, but it was closed. So he kicked the door, and it opened. He got even with that dang pet store by stealing a snake which, per The Evening Times, “is believed to have been found by a shopper in a Partick Supermarket.” Zoinks! How did they catch Mr. Ramsey?