Gizmodo: criminal mastermind

Man Breaks Into Home to Charge His Cellphone

Sean Fallon — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:15:00 EDT

I'll admit—it is not unusual to feel a little anxiety when your cellphone is dying. However, breaking into a stranger's home to charge it is a sign that you have a serious dependency on your gadgets. It could also mean that you are high and/or a complete moron. It appears that 24 year old Scott Boe may have been all three. Indeed, Boe claimed that he broke into the house to charge his cellphone, but the police confiscated a backpack at the scene that contained several knives, a large pry tool and other suspicious devices. So, in reality, the cellphone thing was most likely a really lame excuse that will surely stand alongside "that stuff isn't mine" in the lame excuse hall of fame. [AZCentral via Fark]

Ghetto Disappearing License Plate Hack Rigged to Avoid Tolls

Sean Fallon — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:20:00 EDT

It's not what I would call a Bond-caliber flipping license plate, but the system that a Queens truck driver hooked up in his rig is chock-full of ghetto ingenuity. Apparently, Orlando Payano mounted his license plate on a hinged piece of metal then ran an attached cable through his cigarette lighter. When he went through a toll booth, all he had to do is pull the cord and abracadabra! No license plate caught on camera.

Unfortunately for him, a Port Authority officer was on the lookout for altered license plates at that very moment and saw Payano pull off his magic trick. Like most shirtless criminals pinned to the hood of vehicles, Payano denied everything despite overwhelming evidence. He claims that he did not have a cable system in the rig and his EZ-Pass tag should have taken care of the toll. The pictures above seem to refute this claim, but he may retain a lawyer to try and fight the charges nonetheless. Yeah, good luck with that, dude. [Daily News via Core77]

Unlucky Thief Busted For The Third Time in Four Months For Stealing Police Sat Navs

Sean Fallon — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:50:00 EDT

In appears that 21 year old James Milsom is in the running for both the dumbest and unluckiest criminial in the UK after being busted for the third time in four months for stealing sat navs from undercover police cars. As you can see, the CCTV system in the vehicle did a pretty good job of capturing the subject—so he is off to another 14 weeks in the slammer. When he gets out, maybe he could team up with the criminals in the video after the break and form a kind of anti-Justice league for morons.

[Daily Mail via Neatorama]