Tag: ROBBERY

Most video game addicts would do just about anything to get their hands on a free copy of their favorite game. But few would go as far as to pull off a bank robbery-style heist of their local retailer. Why? Because it's illegal, it's stupid, and, in the age of rampant online piracy, it's not even slightly necessary. Steven Archer, however, apparently thought it was worth a shot. The 33-year-old ...

For some reason, people don't often apply the same cautious approach to purchasing things off Craigslist as they do to, say, meeting a potential partner off Craigslist. Well, they should. Oakland police have issued a warning after a recent spate of robberies; people who had arranged to meet a seller from the classifieds site were instead held up at gunpoint. The police have offered advice to ...

A man who may (or may not) have robbed a jewelry store may (or may not) have announced his guilt on 4chan. On Saturday night, an anonymous 4chan user posted a picture showing what appears to be several rings, along with a message that read: "I just robbed a jewelry store with an M4 assault rifle. Feeling excited but kind of scared. wat do now?" Many, of course, doubted the man's claims, but one ...

Joseph Eric Williams knows who he is, and he clearly wants everyone else to know who he is, too. Why else would he have the phrase 'I'm Me' tattooed across his forehead? Unfortunately for him, though, that tattoo also helped police identify him as a suspected iPhone thief. According to police in Broward, Florida, 19-year-old Williams is believed to have stolen iPhones from as many as 15 ...

Police in Rotterdam have begun installing new, high-tech security systems in stores across the Dutch city, in an effort to help local businesses combat theft in particularly crime-plagued neighborhoods. Unlike most security systems, though, Rotterdam's new device doesn't feature any high-pitched alarms or flashing lights. All it does is spray synthetic DNA. As the New York Times explains, the ...

On September 1st, a man who had been hiding in the bathrooms of an Arlington, Texas branch of Texas Trust Credit Union suddenly emerged after closing time, forced bank employees into the cash vaults, and walked away with a handsome $183,000. About four hours later, police arrested a suspect, Tyce Von Franklin, after pulling him over and finding a handgun, piles of cash, and a surgical mask in his ...

The town of Dudley in West Midlands, England has just deployed a crime-fighting vehicle that's more cute than it is fearsome. According to the BBC, after a "slight increase" in the number of robberies since April, the Dudley Bobbies decided that a pedal-powered contraption in the shape of a giant, sideways apostrophe would help make civilians more protective of their valuables. The 'Digi-Bike,' as ...

Robbing a bank might not be the most original crime in the world. Robbing a bank while dressed as the most ruthless villain in the universe, on the other hand, definitely takes a little extra thought. According to Newsday, such a feat is exactly what one "man" recently pulled off at a Chase bank in Long Island. After strolling into the bank at around 11:30 a.m., Anakin pulled out a handgun, ...

Daring heists of Apple gadgets occur so frequently, and with such violent gusto, that rather ordinary robberies seem incredibly mundane by comparison. An assault on an Oregon AT&T store, and the plundering of its iPhones, has made headlines for one highly uncharacteristic occurrence, though. The twist in this frantic tale involves an arrest, but the captured perp wasn't even one of the ...

A Virginia woman who left her home for a concert came back to a crime scene, and Facebook might be to blame. According to News Channel 8 in Arlington, Virginia, Keri McMullen claims her status update on the social-networking site tipped off burglars to her whereabouts. Soon after McMullen posted the band, time and location of the concert, and left her house, burglars broke in and stole about ...

Traditional wanted posters found in post offices across the nation take significant investments of time and effort to produce and distribute. Yet, outside of the Ten Most Wanted list, the FBI has not made significant use of the Internet to distribute notices about fugitives. Now, however, the message is beginning to emerge with the gradual rollout of BanditTracker. The system debuted in 2007 ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/01/08/bank-robbers-busted-by-gps-equipped-cash/'; In what sounds like a plot from a bad comedy, three Illinois bank robbers were busted by cops who followed them using a GPS device hidden within the stolen cash. It's part of a new security measure that could make solving robberies much simpler. According to The Chicago Tribune, Timothy Rucker, 33, ...

We'll never figure out why thieves think eBay is a good place to sell stolen goods. On the online auction site, these dumb criminals not only have to watch out for the cops, but also for the angry victims trolling the Web for their stuff. According to the Telegraph, a British man whose house was ransacked and relieved of goods valued at $13,000, tracked down the perpetrator when he noticed ...

Police are on the lookout for two brothers. Occupation: plumbers, Clothing: overalls, Hobbies: saving princesses and collecting coins. Reports say they answer to these names: Mario and Luigi. No, this isn't breaking news from the Mushroom Kingdom (unless Staten Island just got a new nickname). According to the New York Daily News, Staten Island police are searching for four men (two were ...

The saddest part about this story is that this isn't the first time this has happened -- a burglar stops in the middle of his robbery to log on to his Facebook account from his victim's PC, leaving behind evidence leading to his swift arrest. This time is was 26-year-old Italian man who was arrested after he broke into a home in Albano Laziale outside of Rome. According to the Telegraph, when ...