Bread Truck Thief Showers NYC With Bread

(Newser) – Maybe he was shooting to be the Robin Hood of carbohydrates? Police in New York City have charged 29-year-old David Bastar with criminal possession of stolen goods and driving without a license, reports the Journal News, and this is how they say it went down: A driver for Grimaldi's Home of Bread was making a delivery to a pizzeria when Bastar, who does not have a license or apparently like to wear clothes other than his skivvies, hopped into the still-running truck. Then the would-be Good Samaritan kept right on making deliveries, only since he didn't know the route, "He was delivering bread at random places," says bakery owner Joe Grimaldi. "It was very bizarre. They were finding bread in front of their doors."

But wait, it gets a little weirder: After Bastar apparently delivered the entire $8,000 worth of bread, he spotted a shiny Cadillac Escalade limo, which cops say he proceeded to tailgate—at times by a matter of inches, says the Escalade's driver, adding, "I was getting a little scared because I thought if I stopped he was going to hit me." He eventually called cops, who pulled the bread truck over and escorted Bastar, who was wearing only his briefs, to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. (It hasn't been a kind news cycle for Cadillac Escalades.)

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Cops: Laptop Thief Busted After Customer Service Call

(Newser) – Calling customer service for help with your laptop is generally a fine idea, but maybe not if you stole the thing in a home burglary. Police in New Hampshire say they made an arrest on Monday and recovered a computer stolen in February 2013 thanks to that very scenario, reports WMUR. The break came when Apple emailed the original owner and thanked him for calling customer service. Except he hadn't.

Someone else had done so, using the long-gone laptop's serial number as a reference. "It then took us a while to track down the individual who made the phone call, but we were able to put that together and ultimately come up with enough evidence to charge him with the original burglary and recover the computer," says a detective. It might be "the only example of when a broken computer is a good thing," observes the Consumerist.

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Macabre Clue Leads Police to Suspected Thief

(Newser) – This month's entry in the annals of truly stupid criminals: Police in Arizona say they found a would-be thief thanks to the suspect's own severed finger, the Arizona Republic reports. Joshua Allen Goverman, 29, allegedly tried to steal copper wiring (value: $300) from an air conditioning truck Oct. 7 but apparently lost his finger in the process. He then, for some reason, left the finger behind. In the morning, the victim went to his truck and "got quite a surprise," a police news release says. "A cut-off finger that was caught up in the wiring."

The grossest quote we've heard in a while, from a Glendale cop: "They took a Popsicle stick and were able to attach it to that finger, and they were able to roll that finger and get a print on that finger." That led them to Goverman, who was indeed missing a finger. This being 2013, they also reviewed his Facebook account, and found an image the criminal genius had posted prior to his arrest "of his hand with the missing portion of his finger." He gave detectives the same story he'd posted on Facebook: that the finger was severed while he was fixing a car. But he apparently 'fessed up after police actually showed him the finger and ended up getting booked on theft charges. "I can't believe he didn't come back and get the finger," the truck's driver marvels to KPHO. "I would've come back and got the finger."

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Dye Trap Nabs Green-Faced Thief

(Newser) – A luckless thief in London was caught not red-handed, but green-faced after breaking into a police "decoy car" equipped with a dye trap, the BBC reports. The 28-year-old, who stole a laptop and other items from the car, was arrested when the system alerted police to the theft and was convicted when police produced photos of his face glowing bright green under ultraviolet light.

The otherwise invisible liquid had been sprayed on him by the booby-trapped car. Police in London are in the process of testing three separate devices that spray thieves with a fine mist that can link them to specific incidents through a combination of chemicals as well as turning them green, reports the Daily Mail.

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Stupid Criminals: Copper Thief 'Never Been in a Jam Like This'

By JJ Duncan on Talk about being stuck between a dumpster and a hard place.

Gibson Cook, 56, found himself in a precarious situation when he went scavenging for scrap metal in a DIllon County, S.C. landfill. And the local Sheriff's deputies were kind enough to take embarrassing pictures.

You know what happens when you stick your hand too far in the Pringles can? That's kind of how it went down with Gibson.

He crawled and he reached and crawled and reached and when he finally grabbed that mess of copper wiring in his grimy little mitt he realized he'd gone too far. So he took the only option left to him: he screamed like a little girl until someone lifted that thing off him. At least that's how I like to imagine it happened.

""He's one of our local petty thieves," deputy Wayne Kirby said. "But he has never been in a jam like this."

Looking at Gibson's picture following the harrowing incident, he doesn't seem that fazed. At least he didn't pee his pants, which is more than you could probably say for yourself were you to be pinned beneath a two-ton metal dumpster.
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Crime Stoppers Looking For A Downtown Thief

By: Liz Lane
Published: September 08, 2011
Updated: September 08, 2011 - 11:39 PM »  Comments | Post a Comment COLUMBUS, Ohio --

Central Ohio Crime Stoppers needs the public’s help in a theft that happened at a Downtown business.

On Thursday, Aug. 18, a man walked into the Astor and Black Custom Suit business at 81 S. 5th St. by prying open the deadbolt to the front door.

Once inside, the suspect went into an office and removed a laptop computer. 

The same suspect entered the same business on June 11 at 9:05 p.m., by the same method, and once again stole a laptop computer and power tools. 

In the June 11 burglary, the suspect drove a white Ford Ranger and parked in front of the business.

Crime Stoppers has posted a reward of up to $2,000.00 for any information received by September 18, 2011, leading to the arrest and/or indictment of the persons responsible for this crime.  Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 461-TIPS (8477) or go to our website at www.stopcrime.org and e-mail your tip.  You can text a tip to “CRIMES” (274637), key word CMH.

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Crime Stopping Looking For Air Conditioner Thief

By: Liz Lane
Published: September 05, 2011
Updated: September 06, 2011 - 7:59 AM »  Comments | Post a Comment NEWARK, Ohio --

Licking County Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 for anyone with information leading to an arrest in a theft at a Newark business. 

Newark police reports that between July 30 and Aug. 1 someone broke into a fenced area at Dor Mar Heating and Cooling, 228 E. Main St., and stole 20 air-conditioning units. 

The suspect's vehicle is described as a black 1984 Ford van. 

Anyone with information should call Licking County Crime Stoppers at 740-349-6888 or 888-488-9058.   

A special coding system protects the identity of the caller but allows for the reward to be issued at a later time.      

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