Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Employee mistake leads to arrests CHANDLER, Ariz., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Police in Chandler, Ariz., say three men were arrested in a credit card scam after a Wal-Mart employee mistakenly sold them an empty computer box. Advertisement Wal-Mart officials called police after the men returned to the store claiming the computer box was empty when the opened it, The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday. When the officers arrived, the three men fled while allegedly throwing a stack of 19 credit cards to the ground, said Detective David Ramer. The cards were counterfeit -- made to look like cards issued by banks in Mexico and imprinted with valid U.S. account numbers, Ramer told the Republic, noting a Wal-Mart worker did inadvertently give the men an empty computer box when they made their purchase. The men, Mexican nationals who entered the country legally, were charged with three counts of forgery and one count of fraud. Advertisement Grandma catches up with handbag thief TORQUAY, England, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A British grandmother, a cross-country champion 50 years ago, caught up with a 15-year-old boy and got him to release her stolen handbag. The teen was able to free himself and escape. Janet Lane, 68, said that the boy and two companions approached her as she sat on a bench in a park in the Devon resort of Torquay, The Daily Mail reported. They begged a cigarette and then grabbed her bag. "I think those boys saw a little old lady and thought I was easy pickings but there was no way I was going to sit there and let them get away with it," she said. "My first reaction was 'they are not having my bag.' I used to be a very good runner when I was younger so I just got up and ran after them," she said. Lane is diabetic and was wearing sandals, not the best running gear. But she swims regularly and showed she can still put on a pretty turn of speed. "Generally for safety reasons we do not actively encourage this kind of behavior, as you never know what could happen," a spokesman for the Devon and Cornwall Police said. "But we understand this woman is a former cross country runner and did not feel able to let it go." Advertisement Cat clash in Colorado car causes crash GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Colorado State Police troopers ticketed a woman for careless driving after she rolled her car while her two cats were fighting in her lap. The feline fracas broke out as the woman was driving along Interstate 70 and caused her to lose control of the vehicle, KKCO-TV in Grand Junction, Colo., reported Tuesday. The swerving vehicle forced another car and a semi-truck off the road and sent the cat-loving driver to the hospital Monday with injuries police said were not life threatening. As for the cats, they ran off, presumably in separate directions, and were still at large Tuesday. Police: Man takes combine on joyride MCINTIRE, Iowa, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Police in McIntire, Iowa, allege a man who had too much to drink stole a combine and drove it over and into three yards, a garage and several cars. Dominic Andrew Bjerke, 21, of LeRoy, Minn., allegedly stole the combine from a farm in the neighborhood and destroyed it by the time his several-block joyride ended, The Des Moines (Iowa) Register reported Tuesday. Bjerke allegedly was so drunk "he couldn't talk, like he was a zombie or something," said Robert Starry, whose garage was damaged. Advertisement The combine also damaged several yards and street signs, part of a small bridge and 30 feet of fence, said police, who arrested and charged Bjerke with operating while intoxicated, third-degree theft, third-degree burglary and criminal mischief.
