August 23rd, 2008 by
Filed under: GPS
Though not quite as bad as toting the GPS module around with you, one particular marijuana farmer had to be mighty embarrassed / wondering what he ever did to deserve such bad luck when a GPS-equipped turtle meandered into his crop. As the story goes, a close friend of the police — a box turtle with no fear of Big Brother — just happened upon a pot stash on US park property. Clearly, Mr. Isiah Johnson (the culprit) was heavily stoned when choosing US land to farm his ganja, and now he’s in custody until he’s “extradited back DC to face drug charges.” And you thought all you had to do was dodge those CCTV cameras…
[Via TechDigest]
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Posted in drugs, legal, gps, police, crime, criminal, pot, turtle, weed | No Comments »
June 5th, 2008 by
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wireless
It was inevitable, really. We’ve seen quick-footed thieves swipe GPS units that eventually led to their arrest, a bank robber who didn’t even bother to close his clamshell while holding up the joint and now, we’ve seen the Eye-Fi card really pay off. According to the outfit’s PR firm Red Consultancy, one particular vacationer had her entire stash of camera gear (over $1,000 worth) stolen while taking a load off in Florida. Upon returning home and checking things out, she noticed that all of the snapshots taken prior to the theft were uploaded, and upon closer inspection, she even noticed a clear shot of the remarkably idiotic crook. After syncing up with the boys in blue, all of the gal’s equipment was eventually returned, and some semblance of normalcy was finally returned. How’s that for a feel good story, huh?
[Image courtesy of Al]
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Posted in illegal, criminal, stolen, theft, eye-fi, camera, larceny, dumb criminal, DumbCriminal, theif | No Comments »
April 17th, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones
Make no mistake, we’ve seen some fairly boneheaded moves made by technologically-illiterate bank robbers, but the latest case involves a fellow who was quite the opposite of that. Yes, the 20 to 25 year male who decided to hold up an Alabama bank the day before his taxes were due actually did the deed without hanging up his cellphone. And there’s surveillance footage to prove it. Quite honestly, we can’t imagine what the conversation here would’ve been like, but at least he made the most of whatever minutes he had remaining as a free man, right?
[Via textually]
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Posted in police, weird, dumb, stupid, crime, criminal, theft, thief, bank, bank robber, bank robbery, BankRobber, BankRobbery, robbery | No Comments »
March 27th, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones
Apple’s no stranger to having its wares ganked (a lot), but this one really has us scratching our noggins some kind of fierce. Apparently a couple of meddlesome 20-somethings working at a Salem, New Hampshire Apple store managed to scoot away with somewhere between 330 and 700 iPhones. After somehow stuffing that many handsets into a panel van / pickup truck / privately owned C-130, they seemingly sweet talked a single high-roller into snatching up their entire stash for upwards of $138,000 — which could be a bargain (or not) depending on the actual quantity included in the deal, internal capacity, etc. Minutiae aside, both individuals are currently residing under the strong arm of the law (surveillance cameras are hard to dodge), but curiously, nothing is mentioned about the buyer who didn’t find spending over a hundred large with a couple of average joes (who just happened to have an inordinately large amount of iPhones for sale) the least bit odd.
[Thanks, Scott]
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Posted in iPhone, police, crime, criminal, stolen, theft, stealing, steal, new hampshire, NewHampshire, stolen iphones, StolenIphones, thieves | No Comments »
January 9th, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones
Rest assured, we’ve seen some brainless criminals in our day, but this one ranks pretty high on the list. Reportedly, a (potentially inebriated) individual waltzed into a police station and frantically announced that his phone had been stolen at gunpoint. When the detective called the number of the phone reportedly stolen, however, a ring was heard from the “victim’s” pocket. After pondering what the criminal hoped to gain from the situation, we here at Engadget HQ came up empty, and apparently, the police involved in the situation were equally stumped — so stumped, in fact, that they issued a statement entitled “Dumbest criminal?” with details of the event in a local newspaper. We’d say that sums it up fairly accurately.
[Image courtesy of FOTW]
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Posted in police, weird, africa, dumb, stupid, criminal, law, South Africa, SouthAfrica | No Comments »
October 17th, 2007 by
Filed under: Cellphones
If a burglar with exquisite taste somehow managed to snag a million dollar Goldvish, asking for just $185,000 for its safe return wouldn’t be too far-fetched. Apparently, the mobile in question wasn’t of the princely variety, as this particular thief managed to lower his asking price to a rock-bottom $200. The suspect, known initially through police paperwork as “Baby Boy,” was lured into a trap after police tagged along for the exchange and arrested him at gunpoint. When Mr. Boy (later found to be Randy-Jay Adolphos Jones, which is only slightly better) was questioned, he just couldn’t put a finger on why he blurted out the $185k figure versus something more reasonable, but hey, not everyone can be right on top of current market conditions, right?
[Via The Raw Feed]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Posted in weird, dumb, stupid, crime, criminal, ransom, stolen, theft, thief | No Comments »
October 17th, 2007 by
Filed under: Cellphones
If a burglar with exquisite taste somehow managed to snag a million dollar Goldvish, asking for just $185,000 for its safe return wouldn’t be too far-fetched. Apparently, the mobile in question wasn’t of the princely variety, as this particular thief managed to lower his asking price to a rock-bottom $200. The suspect, known initially through police paperwork as “Baby Boy,” was lured into a trap after police tagged along for the exchange and arrested him at gunpoint. When Mr. Boy (later found to be Randy-Jay Adolphos Jones, which is only slightly better) was questioned, he just couldn’t put a finger on why he blurted out the $185k figure versus something more reasonable, but hey, not everyone can be right on top of current market conditions, right?
[Via The Raw Feed]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Posted in weird, dumb, stupid, crime, criminal, ransom, stolen, theft, thief | No Comments »