Watercooler Stories

Police: Man stole on way out of jail

SANTA FE, N.M., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Authorities in New Mexico said a man being released from jail allegedly swiped $80 on his way out of the facility and used the cash to buy lunch.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said Frank Rodriguez-Tapia, 20, was released from jail Friday and a security camera recorded him taking $80 in cash that belonged to another inmate who was being booked into the jail, KOAT-TV, Albuquerque, reported Wednesday.

Rodriguez-Tapia was supposed to report directly to the electronic monitoring office, but on the way he stopped for lunch at Blake's Lotaburger, investigators said.

Sheriff's Lt. William Pacheco said Rodriguez-Tapia admitted to the theft when he arrived at the electronic monitoring office and turned over the remaining $67. He is now facing a larceny charge.

"You would think after three of four times in jail, you would take to heart why you're in there, maybe try to change your behavior," Pacheco said.

Cremated ashes left at car wash

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A San Diego business group is trying to find out who left a box of cremated remains at a car wash after cleaning out their vehicle.

Liz Greene of the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association said the group is trying to return the ashes of Henry Efebvre, who died 17 years ago, to the person who left them behind Monday at the OB Suds car wash, KGTV, San Diego, reported Wednesday.

Greene said the sticker on the box revealed the man's name and the year of his death, but the information has yet to lead to any family members.

The box was labeled Secure Crematorium and a business with that name in Santa Ana said it has no record of Efebvre because his cremation was more than 10 years ago.

Two claims filed for backyard $150,000

WOODSTOCK, Ill., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- An Illinois man says the $150,000 in cash he found in his garden last year generated two competing claims for the money.

Wayne Sabaj, who discovered the cash in his McHenry County broccoli garden last year, said the cash would have become his if no one had claimed it by Oct. 1, but authorities said a Naperville liquor store robbed of about $150,000 in 2010 filed a petition to claim the money, as did Sabaj's 87-year-old neighbor, WGN-TV, Chicago, reported Wednesday.

Both claims were filed two days before the deadline, authorities said.

Lawyers for Sabaj's neighbor, Dolores Johnson, said the woman suffers from memory problems and does not remember what happened to the money she has been collecting for several years. Johnson's daughter said she believes her mother threw the cash into Sabaj's yard.

Robert Burke, Sabaj's attorney, said he believes the cash was drug money that fell from a sea plane spotted over the Fox River shortly before his client made the discovery.

Woman claims $100K lotto prize via mail

COLUMBIA, S.C., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- South Carolina lottery officials said a woman with apparent faith in the U.S. Postal Service sent her $100,000 winning ticket to them in the mail.

The officials said the rules allow winners to mail tickets worth $100,000 or less, but the vast majority of six-figure winners prefer to collect their winnings in person at the Claims Center in Columbia, WMBF-TV, Myrtle Beach, S.C., reported Wednesday.

Claims Center workers said the woman, who won the money from a Carolina Panthers scratch-off ticket, told them she is a "local driver" from Surfside who decided to take "a chance" on the Postal Service rather than brave the 150-mile drive to Columbia.

Officials said the woman's check is in the mail.