Stupid Criminals
Monsters Under the Bed
It's highly gratifying to see an ancient cliche--OLD MAID CHECKS UNDER HER BED FOR MEN EVERY NIGHT--actually bearing fruit. Although not literally an "old maid," this wife's habit of looking under her bed for intruders paid off.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 22, 2022 -
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Category: Domestic, Sexuality, Stupid Criminals, Wives, 1910s
Burglary Party
Our Glorious Founder Chuck Shepherd frequently featured reports of housebreakers who a) did housework; b) drank themselves into a stupor; c) cooked a meal; d) had a bath or shower; etc. Here's a variation on the theme.Source: Wichita Falls Times (Wichita Falls, Texas) 30 Jun 1953, Tue Page 1
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 31, 2022 -
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Category: Dinners, Banquets, Parties, Tributes, Roasts and Other Celebrations, Food, Stupid Criminals, 1950s
Unsuspecting drug dealer
July 1973: Two undercover agents approached Eduardo Bazua at a gas station and attempted to buy heroin from him. However, he was reluctant to make the sale there and asked if there was somewhere more private they could go. So the agents took him to their nearby office at the Drug Enforcement Agency. Once in the office, Bazua proceeded to make the sale, and the agents promptly arrested him.In Bazua's defense, there was no lettering on the door identifying it as the DEA, but even so, the fact that the office was on the 12th floor of the downtown federal building should have been a clue.
Los Angeles Times - July 27, 1973
San Bernardino County Sun - July 26, 1973
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 19, 2022 -
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Category: Drugs, Stupid Criminals, 1970s
Unlikely Reasons for Murder No. 9
These two were "lucky" enough to be immortalized by Weegee.Article source: The Grand Island Daily Independent (Grand Island, Nebraska) 03 Aug 1936,
Mon Page 1
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 10, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Crime, Scary Criminals, Stupid Criminals, Family, Photography and Photographers, 1930s
Self-Witness
1979: Thomas Martin, an assistant manager at a Jack in the Box restaurant, told police he was robbed of $307 while closing up the store. Police asked him to describe the robber. He described himself. He later confessed to taking the money from the store.I wonder if this sketch is preserved somewhere in the archives of the Oroville, CA police department.
Kenosha News - Mar 9, 1979
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 03, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Stupid Criminals, 1990s
Robbing a glue factory
I assume they got the charges to stick.
Decatur Herald and Review - Nov 28, 1993
Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 24, 2022 -
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Category: Stupid Criminals, 1990s
Robber warns of robbery
Jan 1995: Raymond Cuthbert warned an employee at Nolan's Pharmacy that he would be back in half an hour to rob the store. Sure enough, he returned a half hour later with a friend who was carrying a concealed weapon. The two were arrested by the waiting police.
The Vernon Morning Star - Jan 6, 1995
Perhaps Raymond had in mind the law proposed in Texas in 1973 that would have required criminals to give their victims advance notice before committing a crime.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 24, 2021 -
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Category: Stupid Criminals, 1990s
Unlikely Reasons for Murder No. 5
Suicide is self-murder, and offing oneself because your murderous insurance scam has come unraveled seems a bit more unlikely than accepting the punishment. Extra points given for swallowing poison in front of the cops. How did he have it so handy?
Source: The Daily Journal (Commerce, Texas) 09 Nov 1956, Fri Page 1
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 19, 2021 -
Comments (5)
Category: Death, Suicide, Scams, Cons, Rip-offs, and General Larceny, Stupid Criminals, 1950s
Another Misunderstanding
Following up on Paul's recent post, "All a Misunderstanding," here's another case that is doubtless just an innocent case of a misunderstanding.Convicted drug offender Declan Butcher was picked up by police and found to have a bag containing cocaine between his buttocks. This seemed to be a blatant violation of his previously imposed bail conditions. But Butcher explained to the judge that it wasn't his fault because the cocaine "had been put there by someone else without his knowledge".
Belfast Telegraph
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jul 13, 2021 -
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Category: Stupid Criminals
An Obvious Case of Entrapment
Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 07, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Domestic, Burlesque, Exotic Dancing, Stripping and Other Forms of Staged Nakedness, Stupid Criminals, 1940s
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |