xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
Leonard Brown, 47, sentenced in 1982 to 99 years in prison in Florida for armed robbery, was released in April after a fellow inmate (having looked over Brown’s records) pointed out to officials that Brown’s sentence was illegally long and that 15 years was the maximum time he could have been kept behind bars. The probable explanation, according to sources cited by The Tampa Tribune, was that Brown’s judge (now deceased) misinterpreted whether Brown was ever armed. Thus, but for the fortuitous discovery of that eagle-eyed inmate, Brown would have spent his entire post-teenage life in prison.
Kuwait Times reported in April that food inspectors shut down the Hawally bakery in Kuwait City after finding dough stored in a toilet, which the owner explained was so that the humidity would keep it moist.
News of the Weird has several times visited the issue of people (mostly men) who are dissatisfied with their bodies because of the imagined unsightliness of their limbs or their genitals and who seek voluntary amputation (“body integrity identity disorder”). In March, three men were arrested in rural North Carolina and charged with castrating several such needy men who had read about the unlicensed “surgeons” on the Internet and traveled from other states (and one foreign country) to get relief. (Under North Carolina law, the specific crime is “castration without malice.”)
Houston police officials started an investigation in March into whether Lt. Joseph Buttitta had sexually harassed a female officer. KPRC-TV reported that the female at first described a consensual relationship that she should have broken off sooner, but then “accidentally” (in a reporter’s word) told Buttitta she loved him when she really meant to say goodbye.
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or [email protected] or go to www.NewsoftheWeird.com.) NEWS OF THE WEIRD
