Many criminals are simply not-so-bright people on what is likely to become the most embarrassing day of their life. Here's a daily look at some of the world's least competent crooks for September, October and November of 2008.
For the latest, here's the current Dumb Crime Du Jour.
A footloose Fort Worth thief made off with $3 million in merchandise from the maker of Justin Boots, the type that country star George Strait endorses. Video surveillance shows the man pulling up a tractor trailer and removing 10,740 pairs of boots.
Police in Port St. Lucie arrested two men who shoplifted four dozen breast pumps from a Babies "R" Us. One of the suspects said he took a pump for his pregnant daughter. And the others? He allegedly sold them on eBay.
Thieves in New Zealand stabbed a handicapped man and stole his backpack, which was filled with urine.
A 61-year-old nudist from Australia bravely took on an intruder in his back yard, chasing the youth off with a garden hose. "It was quite foolish when you sit and think about it now," he told the
Northern Territory News. "I went barefoot and naked right down the street after him - it was like a mad dog chase."
Two robbers who stabbed a man in a wheelchair and ran off with his backpack got just what they deserved -- a bag full of urine. They stole his catheter.
It's hard to say who was more shocked, California police or the driver they tasered for refusing to put up his hands, when they found he was sitting behind the wheel stark naked. The man was pulled over after his van slammed into a car in Santa Ana. He is being tested for drugs and alcohol.
Police are charging a 54-year-old woman with neglect of the elderly after they allegedly found her 84-year-old woman huddling for warmth in a small apartment with 50 cats, 20 ducks, and various other animals, including turkeys and a dog. The apartment reeked of urine, and two dead cats were found in the freezer.
A couple from Green Bay returned from a trip to find their TV, Playstation II and other items stolen. The thief also managed to scatter the cremated ashes of the man's mother all around the house.
In separate incidents, police in the UK, Australia and Pennsylvania report speed cameras, radar trackers and laser equipment are being stolen. Could it be the work of fast-driving vigilantes?
