What would you do if someone stole one of your prized Halloween pumpkins? Would you laugh it off as a childish prank? Would you chase the thief down the street for the $6 gourd? What would you do to someone who tried to stop you from stealing a pumpkin? How about kill the culprit? You think I jest, read on!

Dateline Gatineau, Canada: The man accused of killing a Gatineau resident over a stolen pumpkin has been released from custody.

Korey Perry, 19, was charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of Paul Hines. Hines, 57, was a retired National Defense employee who intervened when he saw two men stealing pumpkins from outside a Gatineau grocery store in September.

Obviously not caring if he impressed the court or not, Perry, whose head is shaved nearly bald, wore a grey T-shirt and knee-length blue jeans at his court appearance. His release was not opposed by the Crown attorney, but the court did impose several basic conditions on his release: to keep the peace, not associate with criminals and to avoid contact with several others involved in the case.

Perry had been charged with assault causing bodily harm, but the charge was upgraded to manslaughter after Hines died in the hospital. Perry was arrested about 30 minutes before Hines’ funeral.

Seriously, this kid either is very unlucky or a complete moron. Why should a respected, law-abiding citizen who was trying to do the right thing due to something as silly as a stolen gourd? Without knowing all of the details in the incident it is hard to pass judgment, but most certainly this 19-year-old needs more than a simple slap on the wrist.

When authorities tell you to guard your personal information very carefully, you should listen to them. Don’t believe me – read on, Brother!

Bank tellers, restaurant workers and other service employees in New York lifted credit card data from residents and foreign tourists as part of an identity theft ring that stretched to China, Europe and the Middle East and victimized thousands, authorities said Friday.

In total, 111 people were charged and 86 are in custody; the others are still being sought. Five separate criminal enterprises operating out of Queens were dismantled. They were hit with hundreds of charges. It is one of the largest fraud cases ever.

These weren't holdups at gunpoint, but the impact on victims was the same, they were robbed.

The enterprise had been operating since at least 2010 and included at least one bank and restaurants, mostly in Queens. Authorities say the graft operated like this:

At least three bank workers, retail employees and restaurant workers would steal credit card numbers in a process known as skimming, in which workers take information from when a card is swiped for payment and illegally sell the credit card numbers. Different members of the criminal enterprise would steal card information online. The numbers were then given to teams of manufacturers, who would forge Visas, MasterCards, Discover and American Express cards. Realistic identifications were made with the stolen data.

The plastic would be given to teams of criminal "shoppers" for spending sprees at higher-end stores including Apple, Bloomingdale's and Macy's. The groups would then resell the merchandise oversees to locations in China, Europe and the Middle East.

All told, more than $13 million was spent on iPads, iPhones, computers, watches and fancy handbags from Gucci and Louis Vuitton, authorities said. The suspects also charged pricey hotel rooms and rented private jets and fancy cars, prosecutors said.

Detectives with language skills spent hours translating Russian, Farsi and Arabic during the investigation.

Part of the problem, especially for foreign tourists in the U.S., is that, unlike overseas, credit card companies in the U.S. do not install special microchips that make skimming more difficult. Criminals are getting more sophisticated. Thieves have an amazing knowledge of how to use technology. The schemes and the imagination that is developing these days are days are really mind-boggling.

Authorities also say the ring operated lower-rent schemes. In one example, they tried to lift what they believed to be expensive electronics from a hangar at John F. Kennedy Airport, like something out of the movie "Goodfellas." They were stopped by police, and the loot turned out to be construction tools — the thieves had taken the wrong package by mistake.

Police searched several homes and seized computers, packaged electronics, and $650,000 in cash, along with several weapons. The charges include enterprise corruption, theft and grand larceny.

Once again, life would be so much easier if we just didn’t try to make an easy buck by stealing from our neighbor.

How much crime could an online stop theft class have? As a counselor for both in class and online theft classes I assure you the recidivism rate for theft is less after taking the class than having not gotten caught. Perhaps, had everyone been forced to take a theft class some of the $13 million that was ripped off in the following story would still be around.

A New York City crackdown on suspects allegedly involved in forged credit cards and identity theft led authorities to a $13 million global crime ring.

It is the largest and perhaps most sophisticated ring of its kind in U.S. history. Authorities hired translators to eavesdrop on a series of conversations in Arabic, Russian and Mandarin that led police to 86 suspects in a series of raids.

The defendants, who were charged with stealing the personal credit information of thousands of unwitting American and European consumers, are allegedly members of five organized crime rings with ties to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Twenty-five members of the ring remain at large.

All of the 111 suspects were indicted in the theft case, while nearly two dozen of them were also charged in six indictments related to burglaries and robberies.

Several suspects are believed to have engaged in "nationwide shopping sprees, staying at five-star hotels, renting luxury automobiles and private jets, and purchasing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of high-end electronics and expensive handbags and jewelry with forged credit cards."

The two-year probe, dubbed Operation Swiper, involved physical surveillance, intelligence gathering and court-authorized electronic eavesdropping on dozens of telephones in which thousands of conversations were intercepted.

The amount of theft that is uncovered daily is staggering. Imagine the amount of theft that goes on unnoticed!

When it comes to theft, age knows no boundaries. As a counselor for both in class and online stop theft classes, I can assure you my students come in all sizes, shapes and ages. My youngest student was nine and the oldest 86.

It seems unfathomable to many that silver-haired people steal too. But they do – I assure you. From postage stamps and produce to shirts and shoes, seniors do steal. While many steal out of need, the fact remains most steal because they have a problem. Take the following story for example.

A 66-year-old Indianapolis woman was sentenced today to nine months of home detention and three years’ probation on her guilty plea to theft of government funds from the Social Security Administration retirement program.

Patricia Maxwell received and retained $122,514 in retirement benefits intended for her grandmother, Dorothy V. Ludlow, because Maxwell never notified the administration of her grandmother’s death on July 23, 1998. The retirement funds were being deposited in a joint bank account of Maxwell and Ludlow.

In addition to the other slap on her geriatric wrists the judge ordered Maxwell to repay to the US Government the sum which she stole. It just goes to show, you’re never too old to run afoul with the law.

Since the beginning of time people have found a way to make a living – often times illegally. Things are as bad now as ever. Prescription drugs are all the rage now.

Federal drug agents filed multiple charges against three New Hampshire residents accused of stealing a local doctor's identity in order to fraudulently obtain and distribute powerful prescription medications.

The arrests are part of a continuing, year-old crackdown by federal, state and local police agencies on prescription drug abuse. About 50 people have been charged in recent months, including five law enforcement officials accused of helping to smuggle tens of thousands of stolen oxycodone tablets into Connecticut from Florida.

On Thursday, federal agents arrested Linda McDougal, 51, of Niantic, as well as Susan Turitto, 53, and Craig Levine, 54.

McDougal, Turitto and Levine are charged with multiple counts of illegal distribution of controlled substances; fraudulently obtaining controlled substances, and making false statements. The charges carry five- and 10-year prison sentences.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating the three after the state Department of Consumer Protection received a call from an unidentified pharmacist who suspected that he had been presented with a fraudulent prescription for 60 vicodin tablets.

McDougal was hired by the New London doctor as an office assistant in 2005. Her duties gave her access to the federal registration information the doctor was required to use when ordering medicines or submitting prescriptions for patients.

McDougal is accused of using the information to place orders for fraudulent prescriptions at area pharmacies in her name and the names of relatives.

She also is accused of placing orders for bulk quantities of painkillers for delivery to the doctor's office without the doctor's knowledge.

McDougal resigned from her job with the doctor in 2009 and, on her recommendation, he hired Turitto, according to authorities. Turitto is accused of continuing to place fraudulent orders for prescriptions and bulk quantities of medicines for herself and Levine.

I bet you could find this same scenario 100 times in any major city and in most small towns. The nation needs to band together to stop this prescription drug abuse.

“Flash Mobs” have become all the rage lately.  If you have not had the benefit if witnessing one, they are really quite amazing as a large group of people seemingly spontaneously, gather for a dance or two.  Flash mobs are cool, flash robs, are not!

Retailers this holiday season are preparing to protect themselves against a new group of unwanted visitors: swarms of teenagers and young adults who plot via Twitter, phone texts and Facebook to descend on stores and steal merchandise.

Law enforcement officials call them "flash robs," a criminal incarnation of the "flash mob" phenomenon in which participants use social media to organize impromptu gatherings, from dances in shopping malls to uprisings in the Middle East.

In Philadelphia, about 40 boys swarmed into a suburban Sears in June and made off with thousands of dollars in merchandise including sneakers, socks and pretty much anything else they could snatch.

Several retail chains including Filene's Basement, Armani Exchange and The North Face were victimized by similar incidents in Chicago this spring in which teens ran inside stores in Michigan Avenue's Magnificent Mile shopping district, screamed, knocked over displays and fled with jeans, sweaters and shirts.

In Washington, D.C., surveillance cameras caught a group of 10 young women streaming into a convenience store in August and making off with bags of snacks. Similar incidents have broken out in Cleveland, Las Vegas and St. Paul, Minn., among other places.

The National Retail Federation says that flash-mob attacks were reported by 10% of the 106 retailers it surveyed in July, a group that included department stores and big-box chains, as well as grocery and drug-store operators. Security personnel or police nabbed suspects in about half the cases, according to the survey, which examined crimes involving more than one perpetrator. It is no surprise that several incidents resulted in injuries.

For the first time the trade association included advice for handling flash mobs in its recommendations to its members about controlling crowds during big events. Among other things, the NRF is urging retailers and police to monitor social networks and websites for indications that groups will be descending on a store. In addition, workers should alert managers or loss-prevention workers when they see unusually large gatherings of people inside or directly outside the stores.

Surveillance videos showed that most of the items stolen in flash robs were folded rather than on hangers.

The NRF also says retailers, to discourage thefts, should position workers near key areas of the store and valuable merchandise.

Sears Holdings Corp. wouldn't comment on the Philadelphia-area flash-mob incident, which involved boys as young as 11 years old. Fifteen people were apprehended and charged with retail theft and conspiracy to commit robbery.

The 19-year-old suspected of organizing the flash mob pleaded guilty in September to misdemeanor shoplifting and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to two years' probation.

Retail merchandise theft rose almost 8% last year to $27 billion, according to the preliminary results of a security study conducted by the University of Florida for the NRF. But security experts strongly discourage store employees from trying to intervene or stop shoplifters, due to the risk that it could turn violent. Some retailers, worried about both safety and liability, are so adamant about the policy that they have fired clerks who chased down shoplifters.

A group of 30 teens flooded a Maryland 7-Eleven in August, helping themselves to chips and other snacks. Police initially labeled the group a flash mob organized via cellphones, but it turned out the group plotted the deed while riding a city bus.

Caught by Technology

Technology did help track down the offenders: after police released surveillance footage to the media, many of the teens were identified by tipsters and apprehended.

Sometimes it frightens me what could come next.  What left is there?  Nothing appears safe from thieves.  I wonder how much less stress we all would have if theft were taken out of the equation.

Let me begin by saying that I am both a Christian with a firm respect for priests, pastors, ministers and rabbis.  It pains me greatly each time that I hear that a “man of the cloth” has committed some heinous crime.  That said, here is a perfect example.

Gambling Problem Leads to Theft

A Roman Catholic priest who acknowledged siphoning $650,000 from the bank accounts of his Las Vegas parish is trying to recover from a compulsive gambling addiction

Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe said he took the money over eight years from gift store funds, votive candle donations and the church mission.

He is sorry and wants to make restitution to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church. He says he is remorseful for the hurt he has caused to all who are precious to him.

McAuliffe, 58, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to three federal mail fraud charges. He could face up to 60 years in federal prison and $750,000 in.

Robert Ragan, a friend of McAuliffe, said he met the priest in a gambling addiction treatment program in June and they bonded over their attraction to video poker.

Ragan, 27, said he talked with the priest last week and is optimistic about his recovery.

"He's staying positive about everything," Ragan said. "He's in acceptance, which is a great place to be. All he can do is move forward and make amends."

In an effort to right his wrong, the priest wants to talk about his experience after his case is resolved, in hopes that he can stop gambling from ruining the lives and relationships of others around him.

State courts in Nevada have diversion programs to steer gambling addicts toward intense treatment instead of jail. The federal courts don't have a similar program, but the state has agreed to ask the court for compassion.

Hopefully, he will be able to fulfill his duty to God and help people.  He may even be in a better place to have an effect since he too has succumbed to talons of addiction.

Good old-fashioned American ingenuity is what we like to see. Unfortunately in this case it represents the all-too-common American way of earning a buck for free (by living off the teat of the government) or stealing.

Police in Queens, New York last week brought down a network of bank tellers, store employees and restaurant workers in the biggest identity-theft bust in U.S. history.

Crewmembers in five independent Queens fraud rings, with ties to Asia, Africa, China, Europe, and the Middle East, robbed $13 million by using stolen credit cards on massive shopping sprees and luxury vacations.

In all, 111 people involved in the fraud allegedly fenced goods purchased in the shopping sprees for cash.

Police are still searching for 25 of the 111 suspects, and at least four suspects are believed to have fled to Russia.

Police showed off seven firearms and piles of cash totaling $650,000 that they had seized during raids at homes in Richmond Hill and Long Island.

Workers in restaurants, retail shops and bank clerks working in the rings stole credit card numbers from thousands of innocent victims after they used their cards to make legal purchases.

Each crew hired teams of “shoppers” who used the fake cards on lavish shopping sprees at high-end retailers like Macy’s, Nordstrom and Bloomingdales, where they bought Louis Vuitton handbags, Gucci and Stuart Weissman shoes and Christian Dior beauty products – items that were easy to resell, law enforcement sources said.

The suspects also bought dozens of iPods, iPhones and Rolex watches.

The 16-month investigation dubbed Operation Swiper, involved Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish interpreters for suspects who foolishly logged their journey into the high life on Twitter and Facebook.

Queens resident Amar was overseeing the entire operation, led one ring. Singh worked with an army of shoppers and fences who converted high-end goods into cash.

Singh allegedly received blank credit cards and account numbers of stolen cards that he gave to suspects to make the purchases. To avoid being questioned or caught by store employees, the suspects used forged ID cards.

Singh employed his girlfriend, Pumjuai Singh, 21, as his top lieutenant. She received the high-ticket items purchased with the fake cards, sold them and funneled the cash through her personal bank account.

Once again, why can’t you try to make an honest buck. Life would be so much better for all of us if we all just did not take, swindle, steal or otherwise illegally cajole, what does not belong to us.

In terms of bulk and size, this has to be one of the largest thefts in history. This theft takes stealing for scrap metal to a whole new level!

How much do you think you could get if you ripped off and scrapped an entire bridge?

Two brothers have been charged with stealing a western Pennsylvania bridge and selling the 15 1/2 tons of scrap metal for more than $5,000.

Police say 24-year-old Benjamin Arthur Jones and 25-year-old Alexander Williams Jones of New Castle used a blowtorch to break up the bridge in late September or early October. They face felony charges of criminal mischief, theft, receiving stolen property and conspiracy.

Authorities say Alexander Jones told a recycling company employee that he had permission to carve the bridge for scrap and showed the employee cellphone photos of the bridge.

The 50-foot-long by 20-foot-wide Covert’s Crossing Bridge was in a wooded area about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh.

The Answer

With metal theft at all-time highs and reaching epidemic proportions, what is the answer to stop this nonsense? Here it is - the recycling company called police.

Now I am not one for government regulation, but it appears there needs to be some oversight at places taking scrap metal right now. What do you think?

Man, sometimes life really makes you wonder. Is it so fun to steal something as insignificant as a pumpkin that it could be worth killing a man and going to jail for the rest of your life?

Man, it makes you wonder!

Here is a textbook case of why people should not steal anything.

As family, friends and top military brass gathered for the funeral of a man who was beaten while trying to stop a pumpkin thief, the 19-year-old accused was arrested on a charge of manslaughter.

The victim was 57-year-old victim, Paul Hines. The retired public servant with National Defense died after he was badly beaten last month outside an Aylmer grocery store.

He had witnessed two young men stealing a pumpkin from an outdoor display and told them to return it. Hines suffered serious injuries and was in a coma before he died about a week later.

Korey Perry, 19, was originally charged with assault causing bodily harm after the Sept. 29 attempted theft.

He was released from custody on a promise to appear in court at a later date, but Hines died in hospital exactly a week later.

Hines’s wife, Janet, his grown children Matthew and Caitlin and their families left the church after the funeral service, followed by the hundreds of people.

Many who were at the funeral said they could not come to terms with the senselessness of Hines’s death.

This is a tragedy that never should have happened. All this for a $5 pumpkin - it makes you wonder.