reality_watcher

Some of the stories I hear about dumb criminals just crack me up. I definitely plan on sharing some of them on my blog but I thought my first dumb criminal story would come from my own personal experience and a dumb criminal by the name of Roger Lee Wise.

I was at a big well known department store and I had my purse in my shopping cart. I walked to the end of an aisle to look at books on the end cap. I carelessly (dumb victim story too) left my shopping cart in the book aisle. It was only a couple of feet from me and I had only planned on looking for a second to see what was there but got engrossed reading some of the backs of the books. I kept peeking around the corner checking on my cart and was dismayed when I peeked one time and the cart was gone! I immediately went looking for it and when I did not find it right away, I notified store security. Security and I looked for it and I finally located my cart in the home improvement section with my purse still in it. On closer inspection, I discovered my keys and checkbook missing. Luckily this purse had a front compartment with a built in wallet. This was the first dumb move on the criminal’s part. He didn’t check there and that was where my money and credit cards were.

I was immediately concerned with him having my keys because my address was on the checkbook. My husband was working night shift and we had a two year old son. We had to put new locks on the door that day and a new ignition in my car that week. I still slept uneasy for a while.

The local police came and took the report. We live in a small town and the officer started going to stores and gas stations, advising clerks of the situation and alerting them to the fact that someone may come in trying to write a check from the stolen checkbook. It turned out that the thief had already been to several stores trying to do just that. When the officer reached one gas station, he was advised that he was too late. The criminal had already been there and had successfully cashed a $100 check. The station was, of course, liable for the cashed check and became a second victim in the crime. The biggest thing that qualified this thief as a “dumb criminal” is he made the check out to himself and asked the clerk to cash it. He said the owner knew him and the clerk called and got permission from the owner. The officer had dealt with the person on the check before and he was eventually arrested.

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