Since I used to practice a bit of criminal law, I love tales of stupid criminals; especially those involving non-violent dumbassery. Here’s a story of two crooks so dumb that they couldn’t be charged with theft or fraud:
Two Jackson men have been arrested for attempting to sell non-existent
computers, fake jewelry and more, the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department
reported Friday.
Sheriff’s
deputies arrested the men at the Mississippi Fairgrounds in Jackson,
where they were offering merchandise they said included laptop
computers and cameras.The boxes instead contained blocks of wood, bubble wrap or notebook paper.
“We
are still trying to determine how many people were taken by this,” said
Lt. Jeffery Scott, spokesman for the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department.Anyone convicted of trademark infringement faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The state attorney general’s office is assisting in the ongoing investigation.
Interesting. You’d think that someone would open the box and have a look before they pay their money (or at least within a few minutes afterwards).
Of course, the way to do this and be far away is to send a box of rocks COD (or make that a junk computer so you did indeed send what you said you would, just not in a useable condition).
IANAL, and am surprised though that they wouldn’t become defendants for either fraud (I said it was a computer and it was a box).
It appears that nobody fell for it hence the trademark charge.