Small Town Misfit

Syracuse, NY
A sting was nearly stung Thursday when a Syracuse police officer pretending to be a john met a suspected prostitute pretending to be a police officer.

It began when a male undercover officer was flagged down in the 100 block of Lodi Street by a female on the street, said Sgt. Tom Connellan, a Syracuse police spokesman.

Here’s his account of what happened Thursday morning:

The woman got in the car and the two went to a nearby parking lot to negotiate a price for sex.

She asked the cop if he was a cop.

The officer said “no.”

“That’s OK, because I am,” the woman told the officer as she pulled out handcuffs and a two-way radio.

The confused officer became downright bewildered when the woman barked a command into the radio: “Move in!”

The officer, concerned the woman was armed and looking to rob him, forced her from the car.

Moments later, officers who had been monitoring the situation arrived and grabbed the woman at a nearby intersection - with the radio and cuffs.

Who was on the other end of the radio?

To find out, a male officer pretending to be a female, used it:

“Hello?”

“Where are you?”

“Where are you?”

“At the base.”

The base, it turned out, was an alley near the parking lot where police found a second woman waiting in a car.

“We believe these people were going to rob people or extort money,” Connellan said.

He did not know if they had successfully used the scam in the past.

Lisa Greene, 31, of 119 W. Ostrander Ave., was charged with first-degree criminal impersonation, a felony, prostitution and fifth-degree conspiracy.

Elena Irwin, 20, of 1812 Valley Drive, identified as the woman waiting in the car, was charged with fifth-degree conspiracy and possession of a hypodermic needle.

Found in the Post-Standard

Thanks SLY!

Mount Prospect, IL
A 26-year-old Elk Grove Village man who picked up an order of tacos from a restaurant on the 1800 block of West Algonquin Road Sept. 9 was head-butted in the eye by a man in his 20s after the victim refused to buy him any tacos.

Found in the Mount Prospect Times

Columbia, SC
Three men were arrested on drug charges Sept. 7 on Farrow Road. A cop spotted the men parked in a car in a vacant lot posted with signs reading “no trespassing,” “no loitering,” “no drugs allowed” and “patrolled by RCSD,” the acronym for Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

Found in the Free Times

Erie County, NY
A motorist reported a vehicle driving erratically with a man in the trunk on George Urban Boulevard Friday. Police stopped the vehicle, and were told by the driver that he was returning from a bar and he didn’t have room for everyone in his vehicle, so one of the passengers was placed in the trunk. Police warned the driver about “his poor judgment in allowing someone to ride in his trunk” and was released.

Found in Bee News

Delray Beach, FL
A man was arrested for domestic battery after beating up his girlfriend at her home in the 6600 block of Tiburon Drive. The woman woke the man up because he was snoring and asked him to roll over. He immediately started yelling at her. When she asked him to leave, he jumped on top of her and wrapped his hands around her neck. He tried to push her off the bed until her head hit the tile. She bit him in an attempt to get away from him, but he covered her face with a pillow. During the struggle, he stomped on the woman’s head. Deputies noted a bruise on the side of the woman’s head. The man was arrested for domestic battery.

Found in the Palm Beach Post

Delray Beach, FL
A woman called police after she heard her sister yelling for her husband to get off of her in their home in the 2800 block of Angler Drive. The man had pinned down his wife on their bed during an argument over her wearing the boxer shorts he needed for work. He did not let her go until the police arrived.

Found in the Palm Beach Post

Columbia, SC
A woman entered a convenience store at 4 a.m. Tuesday carrying a large quantity of coins and asked the clerk to convert some of them to paper currency. She told the clerk she had just robbed a coin-operated laundry. After she left the store, the clerk called police. The woman was stopped, and police discovered she was carrying a sock filled with more coins. She was arrested and taken into custody. When she was searched, police found a crack cocaine pipe in her bra.

Found in the State

Grass Valley, CA
At 9 p.m., a person reported a man in a white Ford Mustang convertible who was standing up naked while the car traveled south on South Auburn Street. A dispatcher advised patrol.

Found in the Union

Chattanooga, TN
The owner of a Hooker Road towing company, who is already facing charges of impounding cars and junking them for scrap metal without the vehicle owners knowledge, has been arrested again. He has been accused of towing a legally parked vehicle and then demanding several hundred dollars from the vehicle owner to return the car. While serving the latest warrant, police also found 20 engines that had been stripped from other vehicles sitting in the towing yard. For those keeping score, the charges now include four counts of theft over $1,000, three counts of storing or towing a vehicle without express written authorization and one count of hindering a secured creditor.

Found in the Chattanooga Pulse

Delray Beach, FL
Someone pried open the lock of the back door of a house in the 600 block of South Ocean Boulevard and drank the remainder of an open bottle of wine. Nothing else was taken.

Found in the Palm Beach Post

Springfield, MT
9:46 a.m., 800 block Seventh Street. A student brought a hen to school and was keeping it in their locker.

Found in the Springfield News

Lakewood, OH
At 11:15 a.m. on Sept. 6, the crossing guard at the intersection of Hilliard Road and Rosewood Avenue was terminated from her position after police received reports that she was drinking on the job.

According to Sgt. Bruce Wilkins, while police did not witness the guard consuming alcoholic beverages in her car, it was apparent that she had been drinking. Wilkins also noted that the car was not running and the keys were not in the ignition.

The woman was immediately relieved of her duty and was driven home by Lakewood officers.

Found in the Lakewood Sun Post