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Prison hasn't quelled their desire to steal

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 17, 2007

Canadian officials say that two inmates in the minimum-security Westmoreland Institution broke out of the prison and immediately started back with a life of crime. They broke into a nearby house and stole jewelry, alcohol and other items worth more than $5,000. Then they did something you don't normally associate with the criminal element: They broke back into jail. Never even missed a head count. An investigation exposed the caper when officials found some of the stolen items at the prison. No one has been charged yet, but the inmates have been moved to a facility with more than minimum security.

Steal a meal

Southern Red's Barbecue in Beckley, W.Va., was robbed last week. Six beef briskets and 12 pork shoulders - retail value $1,500 - were taken from the outside grills. Police followed a trail of meat chunks to a nearby motel. During room-to-room interviews, they noticed that there was a bottle of barbecue sauce on top of a dresser. An officer asked the woman in the room why she needed barbecue sauce, and she said two friends came over the night before with a bunch of meat. The leftovers - about 50 pounds of them - were crammed into two mini fridges in the room. The woman said she had no idea where her friends had obtained the meat.

Rob and return

- The Wachovia Bank in Sandy Springs, Ga., was a pretty popular spot last week. It was hit by robbers on consecutive days. Different robbers, the police theorize. "That's the first time I've seen anything like that within 24 hours of each other," said Lt. Steve Rose of the Sandy Springs Police Department. "It's weird." There are no suspects in either heist as yet.

- In Raleigh, N.C., the crooks allow less time for turnaround. At 4 a.m. Sunday, a man with a BB gun walked into a Spinx Oil convenience store and told clerk Josih Momanyi to hand over the cash, according to the News & Observer. So he did. It got weird when, two hours later, Momanyi was telling a co-worker what happened when the guy walked in again. This time, he tried to rob the store with a walking cane as a weapon. Momanyi challenged him this time, and the man fled without a penny. Police caught Wilbert Earl Octetree nearby and charged him in the case.

It said to turn left, so he turned left

You shouldn't always do what the voices in the car tell you to do. A German driver veered off the road and got stuck on a train track, all because his satellite navigation system told him to, according to Reuters. "He did what he was ordered to do and turned his Audi left up over the curb and onto the track of a local streetcar line," a police spokesman said. "He tried to back up off the track but got completely stuck." Apparently, this is a growing problem in Germany, because those systems just sound so darned confident and friendly.

Compiled from Times wires and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster.

[Last modified January 17, 2007, 01:32:35]