Stupid Criminal Tricks
According to police in Portland, Ore., in July, Duane J. Babcock,
33, hailed a taxi to a Bank of America branch, which he robbed.
The driver, oblivious of the robbery, also drove Babcock away
afterward. The driver was questioned by the FBI after witnesses
identified the taxi, but he could give no other information on
Babcock. That evening, Babcock again needed a taxi and for some
reason telephoned the same company. The same driver showed up.
After taking Babcock to his destination, he called the FBI, which
soon arrived to question Babcock, who was still carrying his
holdup note in his pocket.
CLEVELAND (9-16-1997) - Two anti-crime group leaders were
guilty of their own crime when they decided to spend
money accidentally deposited into their bank account.
The two bought a 1991 Mercedes before they returned
$146,600 of the $617.597 "bonus" deposit. The leaders,
Art McKoy and Abdul Rahim Ali Hasan, devoted to fighting
black-on-black crime, had no idea where the mysterious
money came from, but converted it into 4 checks, and
spent it anyway. Apparently, a city employee accidentally
punched in the wrong account number, sending the money
to Black on Black Crime Inc. The anti-crime leaders are
now being charged with grand theft.
Four young men were arrested for trespassing and attempting to
remove tires from a vehicle at a car-auction lot in Des Moines,
Iowa, in May. Owner Dan Carney had seen the men enter the lot
late at night on his security camera and hopped on his forklift. He
picked up the men's getaway car and hid it inside a building. While
the men were next door inquiring whether anyone had seen their
car, police arrived to arrest them.
In March, nighttime thieves stole the two 300-pound, $30,000
solid brass doors from a side entrance of the Baltimore, Md., court
house at Calvert and Lexington streets.
Fleeing on foot just ahead of cops in hot pursuit near Collinsville,
Ill., in June, murder suspect Ronald Hardwick, 24, ran into a field
and attempted to hide. However, alert Texas County sheriff's
deputies noticed that a few cows, rather than idly grazing, had
seemed to congregate in a certain area and were staring at a
particular place where the field turns into woods. Deputies headed
that way and soon ran across Hardwick.
Robert Hayden, 30, was arrested in East Moline, Ill., in February
and charged with attempted robbery of the Esquire Lodge East.
According to police, Hayden walked into the lobby with a hood
over his head, and simulating a weapon in his hand, and demanded
money. Hayden, who is black, then sheepishly aborted the robbery
when he realized that the Esquire Lodge East was black-owned and
-operated. He fled, but police caught him nearby.
Jimmy Robert Jewell, 33, was arrested in May in Redondo Beach,
Calif., and charged with indecent exposure. He had opened the
door of his van to flash a female passerby, who just happened to be
carrying a camera in order to take pictures of a house she had had
her eye on. She snapped several photos, of Jewell and of his license
plate, and police tracked him down a short time later.
According to New York City police in May, Sidonia Williams
tried to open a Lord & Taylor charge account by flashing a piece of
U.S. currency in the amount of $1 million. There is no such
denomination. Hers was created by pasting 0's onto a $1 bill and
running it through a color copier. She cheerfully pointed out that
she had 194 more just like it in her bag and insisted to the federal
magistrate that she had committed no crime.
Steven Richard King, 22, was arrested in April for trying to hold
up a Bank of America branch in Modesto, Calif., without a weapon.
He used his thumb and finger to simulate a gun, but unlike most
robbers who use this tactic, he failed to keep his hand in his pocket
while doing it. The teller, realizing he had nothing to fear, merely
walked away. King got tired of waiting and walked away, too, but
police caught him nearby.
Robert A. Jackson, 17, and another man were arrested in July and
charged with robbing a St. Peters, Mo., convenience store and a
Citgo gas station. According to police, after the first robbery,
Jackson couldn't get his getaway car started and so apologized to
the clerk and gave the money back in exchange for a jump-start.
The clerk started the car, then called police, who were in the area
looking for Jackson when he allegedly pulled the second job.
Reginald Hunter, 43, was arrested in June and charged with
robbing a convenience store in York, Pa., at 3 a.m. When the clerk
told police the man's footwear consisted of flip-flops, police
surmised he might live nearby. Sure enough, Hunter lives a few
doors down from the store.
Cary L. Rider, 43, was arrested for burglary in Wood River, Ill.,
in September after police found him in a hospital. The burglar had
attempted to move a safe, but it fell on his hand, and his glove was
found underneath it, still containing the top part of the middle
finger of the burglar's left hand (which was exactly the part that
Rider was missing when he reported to the hospital). Said one
officer, "He admitted it. What can you do if your finger's there?"
A wanted fugitive was arrested after going to a police
station to ask for gas money. John William Howard, 45, of
Towson, Md., fled Maryland, where he was wanted on
sexual assault case. On his way to Arizona he decided
to stop at Brookshire Police Station to raise some gas money.
"(Howard) is one of the world's dumbest criminals," said
Brookshire Police Chief Joe Garcia. [Brookshire, Tx., AP,
07-29]
NORTHPORT, Ala. (08-22, AP) - Frankie and Carolyn Ash were
shocked and amazed as they witnessed their own son robbing
the convenience store they were just departing.
David Ash, 21, did not notice his parents as he rushed inside
the store. "The father thought the son had to go to the bathroom
or something," said Sgt. Kevin Leib. "His mother then looked in
and saw him with a knife behind the counter."
The couple watched in amazement as their son drove off in his
truck. Young David experienced more trouble when his getaway
vehicle broke down and called his parents for help. They talked
him into surrendering to authorities.
Beleiving she had been sold fake crack, Rosi Lee Hill of Pensacola,
Florida, called the police to complain. When police tested the substance
and concluded that it was real, Hill was arrested.
Jeffire Thomas, 35, walked into a Baltimore bank and handed the teller a note
demanding money. When police arrived, Thomas, still standing near a teller's
station adding up his take, was arrested.
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