xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx

Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.

Aaron Bell, 19, was convicted in December of robbing a Kentucky Fried Chicken store in Philadelphia 12 months earlier. It was the same KFC where Bell had worked for the previous two years; he wore no mask or disguise, and all the employees recognized him. He might have learned in those two years that the store's safe is time-locked at 9 p.m., but he started the robbery at 9:15 and thus got no money. Nonetheless, Bell successfully hid from police for three days. On the third day, he decided to report for work at the KFC, acting as if nothing had happened. The manager called police.

In Manchester, England, in December, Thomas Clark, 30 (described by his lawyer as "intelligent" and "highly educated" but spiraling into depression), was convicted in the stabbing death of a 71-year-old man. Among the evidence against him was the result of an Internet search he had performed on his computer: "What sentence would I get for stabbing somebody in an unprovoked attack?" (The response, from the "Ask Jeeves" Web site, was not introduced as evidence, but the correct answer, it turns out, is "life in prison.")

Leonard Garland, 20, and a partner were arrested in Ashland, Mass., in February, after Garland had the bright idea to crash a party at a private home he just happened to be driving by, thinking that a party was a good place to find customers for his drug business. Garland walked in and struck up a conversation, eventually enticing a guest to ask him about drugs. Garland had cocaine on him, but when his "customer" wanted more, Garland made a phone call to his connection. However, the connection said he would not go near Ashland because Ashland's main narcotics detective, Mark Gutwill, was too aggressive. Unknown to Garland, the soiree he happened into was an off-duty party of police officers, and the potential "customer" he had randomly chosen to talk to was Detective Mark Gutwill, who soon arrested him.
Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla. 33679 or Weird@compuserve.com
Copyright © 2001 by Chuck Shepherd

NEWS OF THE WEIRD