Famous Impressively Petty Crimes

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All over the world, Police or other crime agencies will have tales of bravery or the day that made them ask themselves why they do the job. Most are also like to have been involved with some curious stories, tales of petty crimes that make the local or national news headlines because they are so bizarre. These are easy to find and sometimes they make their way onto TV in the form of shows like ‘America’s Dumbest Criminals’.

1. Banksy

Banksy
Banksy

Despite being a world-famous artist and political activist, this anonymous artist is actually (in the eyes of the law in many countries) one of the globe’s most prolific graffiti criminals ‘ something which is illegal on the properties that he uses for his art. Starting in Bristol in the UK, his art is seen all over the world and often making political statements. He rose to global prominence around 2008 in the wake of the banking crisis. His artwork echoed what a lot of people were feeling. Several prestigious art museums throughout the world have since had exhibitions of his (legal) work

2. That Breaks the Biscuit!

 Baker shop
Baker shop

Three years ‘ that was how long a petty criminal spent breaking into local baker shops in Bucks County to break every single cookie produced by a single firm. The owners of each baker could not understand who was doing it or why and it was affecting their sales ‘ they couldn’t sell bags and boxes of crumbs after all. In the end, the cookie company decided to install security cameras to protect their goods. The culprit was eventually caught and charged with criminal mischief.

3. Drain Cover Addiction

A manhole that has a missing, presumably stolen, cover.
A manhole that has a missing, presumably stolen, cover.

Drain covers are a necessity in the UK which gets a lot of rain and therefore needs a lot of drainage. In 2012, a plague of missing drain covers and manhole covers went missing from Worcester and Solihull, England. Assuming that they were being stolen by gangs who were then selling on the cast-iron covers for scrap, police were surprised to discover that it was all the work of one man. The former firefighter had taken over 180 in the course of just three months.

4. My Drunken Steed

Drunk woman
Drunk woman

Being drunk in charge of a horse is still a crime; after all you still need your faculties about you to remain in charge of your direction on the road and can be a menace to pedestrians and road users. Being aware of this, a very drunk woman in South Carolina was observed wobbling all over the road and was reported to the police. When challenged, the obviously drunk woman claimed that the precarious direction was because it was the horse that was drunk. It wasn’t, and she was charged with drunken disorder.

5. It’s Ok, the Leprechaun let me In

Leprechaun
Leprechaun

In some rundown areas of the world, you might expect to see that a homeless person has broken in to your car purely for the purpose of somewhere to sleep for the night away from the elements. But sometimes it isn’t their fault. They didn’t want to break into your car but a leprechaun lets them in and they wouldn’t wish to offend a mythological creature. That’s what happened to a man in Cincinatti who confronted a drug addict who had broken into his car. The man was charged with breaking and entering and the small Irish accomplice was never found

6. Oh I thought Nobody Wanted It!

Officer Kevin Yang
Officer Kevin Yang

Not always a crime, more of an annoyance when your roommates are stealing your food ‘ everything from the basics like milk and eggs up to the luxury chocolate you were saving for the weekend. But an annoyance becomes a crime when one person is stealing whole meals ‘ lunches, dinners, snacks, drinks over the course of a year from a Police Department. When Officer Yang was caught, he claimed to believe that he had only been using up the leftovers. Nobody believed him and he was charged with petty theft

7. Doing it for ‘The Boys’

Hyman Strachman
Hyman Strachman

There are many ways that people can support war effort. If you are a red-blooded patriot you might support veterans or injured soldiers’ charities or you might send them pirated films. Hyman Strachman is one of the world’s most prolific film pirates but he does not actually gain anything from producing the films. He is actually out of pocket as he downloads the films and sends them out to US servicemen abroad. Nobody has dared charged him with a crime though.

8. When the Victim has a Profile

Calin-Lonel Rostas
Calin-Lonel Rostas

Usually it is the criminal that has the profile in petty theft but Calin-Lonel Rostas was particularly discerning about the sort of people he would rob. He would invariably enter the sort of coffee and food establishments frequented by ‘hipsters’ such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee, distract them in conversation, put his newspaper over their phone and when bidding them goodbye he would take the newspaper and the concealed phone beneath it.

9. The Moonrakers

Full moon
Full moon

Local legend in South West England has it that groups of smugglers used to get away with the crime by playing stupid. Barrels of beer, rum and brandy would be hidden in village ponds when the tax inspectors came around to make sure that such produce was legitimately owned and duties paid. One group were caught trying to fish a barrel out of a pond. It was a full moon and the quick thinking men claimed to have mistaken the moon for a cheese and were trying to retrieve it.

10. Theft (Ja)Pandemic

Japanese old woman
Japanese old woman

Curiously, the conservative state where public image is everything and family honour is one of the most important aspects of that public image, has in the last few years seen an amusing and curious uptake in older people stealing from shops as a hobby. Men and women of the elderly variety are being increasingly arrested for petty theft from shop stores. Many report feeling bored in old age, some of course are confused or want attention. The problem is so rife that it is common to see special prisons for older people in Japan.

Conclusion

‘Don’t have nightmares’ or so the saying goes on the UK crime appeal series Crimewatch and with some of the above bizarre examples of petty crime you are unlikely to. Not all crime will have you quivering in your boots, some are the subject of light-hearted TV shows and books and are just as interesting as the bigger stories.

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