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Chicago must protect its vegetables

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 5, 2007

In Chicago these days, no vegetable is safe. Last week, a truck carrying $50,000 worth of broccoli was stolen. Now comes a report in the Chicago Tribune that a truckload of frozen asparagus was lifted. The thieves broke into a truck yard with cabs and drove off with trailers. One of the other trailers had 5,200 packages of cookies in it. "They probably wanted TVs and gym shoes. But they got asparagus and cookies," said Cmdr. Patricia Walsh, trying to ease the fears of vegetarians. The street value of the take is arguable. "I don't know too many people who would want to pay too much for all those cookies," Walsh said. "Somebody would. But that's a lot of cookies." Police later found the asparagus trailer abandoned on the highway, thawing. They say they don't think the broccoli and asparagus heists are related ... but they aren't ruling it out.

His calling card: his driver's license

George Martinez was arrested by Longmont, Colo., police. They say he robbed the US Bank there, taking a boatload of cash. And he might have gotten away with it except for the fact that police found one seriously incriminating piece of evidence. "When someone leaves behind their wallet, that really helps us out," Longmont Detective Stephen Desmond told the Boulder Daily Camera. In addition to that robbery, he is now being investigated in two other robberies, including one a week earlier at the same bank.

Are you on drugs?

NO: In 2003, Janet Lee was arrested after airport screeners found three condoms filled with white powder in her carry-on luggage. Tests said it was cocaine. She said it was flour. She was in jail three weeks while they did better tests. Better tests said it was flour. She settled a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia for $180,000 on Thursday. Lee said the flour-filled condoms were used by college students to squeeze when they were stressed. "I was naive, really stupid," Lee said.

NO: Two Los Angeles cops saw a suspicious looking bag in the back of a car parked at a convenience store. They cased the car, and when the owner came back, they swooped in and sternly asked the man to step aside. Upon investigation, they realized that it was a bag of catnip. The man, Adrian Martinez, runs a radio station that caters to pet owners. He was not charged or detained. "I don't think I will be traveling with catnip anytime soon," Martinez said.

WELL, YEAH: Prison officials get suspicious when guards start bringing in tasty treats for the prisoners. And in Hempstead, N.Y., it was justified. Rocco Bove was arrested Wednesday and charged with smuggling marijuana to an inmate ... stuffed inside the sweet cream filling of a cannoli. He pleaded not guilty.

[Last modified January 5, 2007, 00:56:41]