High Crimes and Low IQs: 50 of the Dumbest Criminals

It doesn't take a genius to commit a crime, but it takes a special kind of stupid to get yourself caught, as the criminals in this book prove. This book boasts 50 bite-sized bios with bungling, bone-headed burglars, embezzlers, and bank robbers. From bragging about your crimes on police Facebook pages to dialing 911 while stealing a car, these people prove that an idiot can commit a crime, but probably shouldn't.
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Excerpt
Introduction
Dumb criminals don’t just make the jobs of police officers around the world easier, they also make for great entertainment. The exploits of stupid bandits, dimwitted thieves, and bungling burglars make for great reading and titillating television.
Best of all, there is an unending stream of such dimwits in all corners of the world. The internet and YouTube now ensure that the antics of dumb criminals will be seen and enjoyed by millions of web surfers. Many others will be entertained by reading about such boneheads and it is easy to see why.
The sheer stupidity of dumb criminals is unbelievable and entertaining in itself. Many of these criminals’ stories are not just entertaining, their exploits are almost too incredible to believe, yet they are all true. So laugh your heads off and don’t get scared because most of these stupid crooks are only a threat to themselves.
Aaron Smith
You would think that a corrupt cop could become a highly effective criminal. Aaron Smith proved that stupid cops can become very dumb criminals because he was arrested for stealing from police headquarters.
That’s right; he thought he could get away with stealing stuff right out of the police station under the nose of his comrades. Smith even broke into a lockbox and stole cash from the police department. The whole affair was even more embarrassing because Smith was a seven-year veteran of the Tempe, Ariz., police department.
Smith apparently thought that nobody would notice that a lockbox had been broken into and $750 in cash removed. He also believed that nobody would notice that two police bicycles were missing. Incredibly, he apparently stole the items during his shifts at the police station.
If that wasn’t bad enough, at least one of the items that he stole didn’t even work. It was a GPS unit that was broken, so he pitched it in the garbage.
It didn’t take the world’s best internal officer to catch Smith. A detective who suspected him caught him by handing him a purse full of money to check in as evidence. When Smith didn’t turn the purse in, the detective knew who was stealing from the police station.
Then, to prove how stupid he was, guess where Smith stored the stuff he stole from the police station? He stored the bicycles and other loot at his own house. Detectives found it there when they served a search warrant and searched the residence.
Aaron Smith’s crime spree was so petty that he only earned 90 days in the county jail. The total value of his loot came to less than $1,000. That’s right; Smith committed petty theft and threw away his career in the process.
There’s no word on what Smith will do once he gets out of jail. One thing’s obvious; he doesn’t have much of a future as either a criminal or a cop.
Bibliography
Associated Press "Ex-Tempe police officer Aaron Smith sentenced in theft case." 7 June 2013. abc15.com. Wire Service News Article. 12 June 2013.
Hendley, Matthew. "Aaron Smith, Ex-Tempe Cop, Gets 90 Days in Jail for Being a Petty Thief." 7 June 2013. blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com. News Blog Entry. 11 June 2013.
—. "Aaron Smith, Ex-Tempe Cop Pleads Guilty to Stealing from Police Department." 12 April 2013. blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com. News Blog Entry. 12 June 2013.