Free Advice: Check Fuel Before Stealing Car*

November 30th, 2010. By LucyC

He’s Not Driving With A Full Tank. Heads up—cars in showrooms do not come with gas, as a man in Albany, Georgia found out recently. Jacory Phillips was arrested by police after the new car he allegedly stole from the showroom floor at Five Star Nissan in Albany ran out of gas during his getaway. This never happens in the movies.

But it doesn’t sound like there was a massive police chase that led to his arrest. Rather Phillips, in full problem-solving mode, began begging for money to buy gas—at a gas station. Logical, but not normal. In fact downright suspicious to some people who called the police to report him.

According to the police, Phillips broke into the dealership Thanksgiving night and drove a 2011 Nissan Altima through the glass showroom doors.”He literally drove it off the showroom floor,” said Albany Police Department spokeswoman Phyllis Banks. “He damaged the doors on the building and then fled the scene.”

Turns out Phillips has been charged and convicted of several petty crimes since 2007, including an incident in 2008 when he allegedly punched his mother. Not sure how the two things are connected except that it’s all bad behavior. 

Take Out Pizza Takes Out Savings. A woman in Bristol, CT, recently paid $2,600 for a pizza, which was supposed to cost $30. Katie Boucher paid by for her pizza with a direct debit bank card, the beginning of all her problems, which were not insignificant.

“The guy at the register was using the credit card,” Katie Boucher told WFSB-TV, Hartford. “He was pushing all kinds of buttons, and my husband knew something fishy was going on. The receipt printed out for $2,600 for our $30.50 pizza.” So Katie and her husband went home and checked her account to find out that it had been drained of $2,600. This had put her in overdraft. And, the overdraft had resulted in $230 overdraft fees—in the time it took her to get home? Trust the bank.

Apparently, Boucher called her bank and was told it would take up to 10 days before the $2,600 made it back into her account. She was advised to go to the pizza place and work it out with the owner. That sounded reasonable, but in reality—not so.

Boucher said the pizza man wanted to refund her money in Pizza. Are you kidding? So one can guess how the conversation went from there, and the proprietor of Amano’s Pizza allegedly threw Boucher out.

“I don’t like people coming in here and telling me what to do,” Von Manolitsis said. “This is my business.” What—theft or pizza?

Apparently, Von Manolitsis eventually caved and said he would refund her the money. How considerate. Boucher said she’ll be relieved when the cash is in her hand. No kidding. Cash is king baby!

New Concept in Vacation Swaps—I’ll Just Stay At Your Place When You Leave. A couple in Jacksonville, FL managed to provide a man with a pleasant Thanksgiving—and they didn’t even know about it. The man broke into the couple’s home while they were away for the holiday and made himself right at home. He baked himself some brownies, cruised the porn sites on their computer, slept in their bed (this is sounding a little like the three bears…) and loaded the front seat of the couple’s van with their alcohol.

Thankfully, a neighbor who was keeping an eye on the house at the request of the owners noticed something amiss when he saw the garage door open. So he went next door to investigate and found the man in the living room, holding a gun. Yup, the gun belonged to the homeowners as well. 

Somehow, the police were alerted and surrounded the house. Nothing like a little SWAT action in your neighborhood on Thanksgiving. That could certainly make you grateful pretty quickly.

But it seems the police didn’t catch the guy. When they entered the house they found it empty. No news on where the burglar/home invader is.

Apparently he gained entry to the house via the garage remote control which the couple had left in an unlocked car in the driveway. What a couple of turkeys!

*No, we’re not advocating stealing cars—just not being a complete idiot if you choose to do so.

Tags: Tortelicious

This was posted on Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 at 10:54 am and is filed under Totally Tortelicious . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.