MONROE, Wash. — Police say a trail of pillows and backpacks led to two sleeping men who were arrested in a department store break-in.
Kyle Burress, 25, and Allen Pierce, 27, were charged with second-degree burglary after a break-in July 9 at a Fred Meyer outlet, Monroe police spokeswoman Debbie Willis said.
A surveillance video camera showed two people going from one storage container to another. Police followed a trail of cardboard and items from the containers to Burress and Pierce, one sleeping in a stolen hammock and the other on a pile of stolen pillows.
Police took some photographs before waking and arresting the pair.
Willis said they apparently had been drinking. “I’d say a lot of alcohol was involved,” she said.
— KING, Seattle, Wash.
Unlikely hiding place for counterfeit money
HOLYOKE, Mass. — Two people were arrested and accused of using counterfeit money after trying to hide the evidence in an unlikely place, police said.
Holyoke Police Chief Anthony Scott said the suspects, identified as Viviana Ordonez-Romero and Edwin Gonzalez, were caught last week using counterfeit $100 bills at Holyoke Mall. During the booking process for Gonzalez, four counterfeit $100 bills were found between the cheeks of his buttocks, Scott said.
Scott said the two would make small purchases with $100 bills and pocket the change. They were caught with more than $3,000 cash and the four counterfeit $100 bills, he said.
Gonzalez was being held on an immigration detainer and will face deportation hearings in a federal immigration court after he is released or serves time on any criminal convictions. Scott said two warrants were out for Gonzalez’s arrest by the state of Florida.
Ordonez-Romero was found to be wanted on a warrant out of Ann Arbor, Mich.
— WWLP, Springfield, Mass.
Pardon me, would you happen to have any ammo?
MURRAY, Utah — When a car full of teenagers imitated an old mustard commercial, they got a response they never expected.
The response had the teens scared for their lives after they asked the driver of the car next to them at a stoplight whether he had any Grey Poupon.
In TV commercials that aired across the country in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the famous response was, “But, of course.” But when Vitaly Kovtun, 22, rolled down his window, he responded by pulling out a gun, police said.
“He racked the slide back and basically told the other kid: ‘Here’s your Grey Poupon. Now, roll up your window,’” Murray police Detective Kenny Bass said.
The teens jotted down the driver’s license plate number. When officers arrested Kovtun, he acknowledged pulling the gun, police said.
“They were just goofing around, as teenagers do, just kind of playing a little joke. They didn’t think it would be that big of a deal and [were] obviously scared to death when it happened,” Bass said.
Kovtun, who holds a concealed weapons permit, was charged with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.
— KSL, Salt Lake City, Utah
Thieves take everything but kitchen sink
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Worn spots on the tile floor mark where a refrigerator, a freezer and two standing coolers used to be.
“It’s gut-wrenching,” Joe Moran, a coach with Springfield Youth Football, said as he looked around an empty concession stand. “It’s taking from the kids. The kids are the ones who are going to be hurt by this.”
Another football coach discovered the theft of the concession appliances last week. Other stolen items included a popcorn machine, a hot dog warmer and a hot chocolate machine.
“It couldn’t have been kids doing this job,” Moran said. “They were pretty heavy appliances.”
Moran estimated the loss at nearly $2,000.
Springfield Youth Football, which sponsors football teams and cheerleaders from kindergarten to seventh grade, doesn’t have the money to replace the stolen appliances. And organizers relied on the profits from the concession stand to help pay the bills for referees and replacement equipment.
“We’ll just have to pinch our pennies a little closer now,” Moran said.
— WKYC, Cleveland