Curses, Foiled Again
Bradley Hardison, 24, managed to elude authorities for nearly nine months before they nabbed him after a local paper published his photo for winning a doughnut-eating contest at a police anti-crime event in Elizabeth City, N.C. “I was pissed because it’s like throwing it in our face,” Camden County sheriff’s Lt. Max Robeson said after he read the article, which led investigators to Hardison. (Hampton Roads, Va.’s WTKR-TV)
Silver Lining
A tornado that damaged buildings in Kingsport, Tenn., dumped the contents of Jerrod Christian’s home on his yard. When neighbors emerged to check on the destruction and spotted the items, one of them noticed that several had been stolen from him. Police charged Christian, 20, with burglary and theft. (ABC News)
Family Values
Fifty-four percent of Christian men and 15 percent of Christian women admitted to viewing pornography at least once a month, according to a Barna Group survey. The definition of pornography was left up to the respondents. (The Washington Times)
Picky Eaters
Indonesian police arrested Heather Mack, 19, after her mother was found bludgeoned to death in a Bali hotel room, along with her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21. When Mack complained about the meals, police bought them KFC fried chicken, prompting them to accuse police of racist stereotyping. Bali police said the allegation of racism surprised them, since few Indonesian can even afford a KFC meal, so they switched the two prisoners to food from McDonald’s. (USA Today)
Sister Act
Police charged Diondre Jones, 26, with Medicaid fraud after she identified herself as her dead sister when checking into a hospital in Slidell, La., while wearing a T-shirt that featured a memorial to her sister. (New Orleans’ WWL-TV)
Love Seat
Police arrested a 33-year-old woman they said “hiked up her dress and engaged in an intimate act with several lawn chairs” in Seattle. She then began urinating on the lawn before “quite purposefully exposing her genitalia, and then posterior, to the family inside the home,” according to the report. The family called 911. Officers who arrested the “extremely intoxicated” woman for indecent exposure explained that public nudity is not illegal but it becomes criminal if it “causes a person to reasonably experience fear, alarm or concern.” (Seattle’s KOMO-TV)
Tax Dollars at Work
U.S. taxpayers have spent $2.87 million so researchers can determine why “nearly three-quarters of adult lesbians (are) overweight or obese.” Led by S. Bryn Austin, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the ongoing National Institutes of Health study has so far concluded that lesbians may become obese because of lower “athletic self-esteem.” (Washington Free Beacon)
Unclear on the Concept
Police conducting a reverse prostitution sting in Daytona Beach, Fla., reported that Alonzo Liverman, 29, told the undercover police officer posing as a prostitute that he didn’t have any money but offered a salad as payment for sex instead. (Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Where the Dough Is
Joshua James Pawlak, 27, demanded money from four businesses in Woodbridge, N.J., but police said all he got was $2, which he grabbed from the tip jar at a bakery. (NJ.com)
When Guns Are Outlawed
A police officer in Seattle, Wash., stopped a one-legged man who was attacking a two-legged man with his prosthetic limb. The two-legged man started walking away when a third man, undeterred by the officer’s presence, clobbered him over the head with an aluminum baseball bat and fled, but was arrested. (Seattle’s KOMO-TV)
Life Lessons
When a hailstorm rolled through Woods Canyon Lake, Ariz., a man authorities described as in his 30s, lifted a metal chair over his head to shield him from the hail. A lightning bolt struck the chair, sending the man to the hospital with an entry wound on his shoulder and exit wounds on both feet. (Phoenix’s KTVK-TV)
