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The Most Unbelievable Robberies Of 2023
Some of the weirdest robberies and thefts in recent memory will blow your mind. Sure, they don’t boast big players like George Clooney or Brad Pitt, but that doesn’t make them any less insane. From the case of a dime stash worth hundreds of thousands to a lightbulb thief, 2023 has seen some doozies. Heck, even a 15-foot-long Dairy Queen spoon went missing this year, and we’re little more than four months into the mayhem.
Keep reading as we explore some of this year’s most mad-capped thefts (so far), and the colorful characters caught red-handed.
The Dime Heist Worth Hundreds of Thousands
Almost a decade ago, The Street conducted a fascinating survey of 3,500 American drivers. They wanted to find out how much the average individual keeps in spare change rolling around their car. While personal numbers came in at a mere $22 of pennies, nickels, and dimes, the grand total for all US residents tallied up to a whopping $2.4 billion!
Of course, some people bat well above average, as is the case with one truck driver in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Instead of having a mere $20 or so in change, the tractor-trailer carried $750,000 in dimes! (Yes, you read that right.) Not surprisingly, burglars couldn’t resist the temptation. A group broke into the truck around 6 am, absconding with at least $100,000 in heaps of dimes.
Law enforcement officers for the “City of Brotherly Love” don’t know how many robbers participated in the heist, let alone how they transported so much metal at once. But they did find a trail of dimes scattered throughout the parking lot. Apparently, they’re still tallying coins to calculate precisely how much of the shiny stuff disappeared without a trace.
The Case of the Vanishing Lightbulbs
When Evan Souders of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, first reported lightbulbs from his porch missing, it left many people scratching their heads. After all, the fragile glass objects aren’t especially valuable. But over time, their theft adds up, as Souder can attest. Initially assuming the event to be isolated, Souder replaced the bulbs on his porch only to have them taken again. And again. And again.
Finally, in desperation, he decided to install a security camera to get a better idea of what was going on. Within a few days of the camera’s installation, Souder caught the bulb thief on film. Footage shows a male perp who looks inside the home before grabbing one light fixture. A car is also visible in the driveway during the incident.
So, what’s the deal when it comes to the disappearing illumination? Officials still don’t know. But some people on the Next Door app have speculated it has something to do with drug use. What do local police have to say about the bizarre incidents? Dillon Quirk of the Oklahoma City Police Department explains, “This could be considered a police matter as it is larceny … As far as intentions, I could not speculate.” Hopefully, the OKC Police Department will shed more light on the subject soon.
Ocean’s Eleven Style Heist Takes a Bite Out of Apple
Seattle Coffee Gear recently became the epicenter of a bizarre and intricate heist to rob a neighboring Apple store blind. After gaining after-hours access to the café, thieves cut a 24-by-18-inch hole into the shared wall between the coffee shop and the hi-tech store, making off with more than 436 iPhones. All told, the ambitious endeavor resulted in a loss of roughly $500,000 in merchandise.
How did the thieves do it without getting caught? The crime occurred on April 2nd at 7 pm, outside of regular operating hours. Eric Marks, regional manager of Seattle Coffee Gear, explains, “I’m surprised we were the conduit for them to get to the Apple store. I had no clue we were so close or adjacent to them.”
Since the bizarre incident, Apple Store staff has moved quickly to secure their location by changing locks and assessing damages. So far, damages sit at $1,800. They may have trouble collecting the cash, however. As it turns out, the burglars excelled at their jobs, leaving behind no traces. Not even a stray fingerprint. Sure, these robbers never made it to “Sin City.” But we’re guessing Danny Ocean and Jimmy Foster would still give them props for ingenuity and execution.
The Thief With the Heart of Gold
When it comes to the case of Bonnie Gooch, a familiar saying comes to mind. A leopard never changes its spots. But that doesn’t mean said leopard has to lack empathy. You see, Gooch has a history of robbing banks. The 78-year-old has two past convictions. In 1977, she stole from a bank in California. And in 2020, she held up a bank in the Kansas City suburb of Lee’s Summit.
So, after her parole for the second robbery ended in November 2021, it’s no surprise she reverted to her old, thieving ways. This time, she went after a financial institution in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. While getting older hasn’t necessarily made Gooch wiser, that doesn’t mean she wants to ruffle any feathers.
Demanding 13,000 small bills via a robbery note, Gooch included the caveat, “Thank you, sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” Despite her worries about upsetting the teller, the would-be bank robber was in no mood to wait. Surveillance footage shows her banging on the counter and ordering the teller to speed up. Although she managed a speedy getaway, the wannabe Bonnie (sans Clyde) met justice two miles from the scene when police apprehended her.
A 15-Foot Spoon Points to a Mammoth Crime
If Paul Bunyan lived today, we’d have to blame him for this last crime. It all started when Phoenix residents noticed the 15-foot-long red spoon garnishing their local Dairy Queen missing. A frantic search provided few clues. More than a week passed without a sign of the massive scarlet Blizzard-devouring implement.
Nevertheless, residents weren’t about to give up on the beloved object worth approximately $7,000. Enter Michael Foster, 52, an inveterate Pokémon Go player. During one of his virtual scavenger hunts at a grassy school playground, Foster came across the colossal spoon. In shock, he texted a picture to his wife, explaining, “It’s the spoon.” In response, Foster’s wife prompted him to call the police.
After police arrived, Foster and a school maintenance worker managed to schlepp the big eating utensil over the fence. Next, officers strapped it to the hood of their vehicle, channeling an Aunt Edna National Lampoon vibe. What else do local officers know about the case? They have surveillance video of two men and one woman making off with the big red spoon before loading it onto a large flatbed towed by a pickup. The suspects remain at large.
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From Globe, For Globe - Pulse of the Planet
They seemed to actually prefer derby hats.
Cowboys are a symbol of the American Wild West, but there are some tales about them that aren’t true. They rarely fought Native Americans, they were more likely to die from falling off a horse than in a gunfight, and they didn’t wear those tall, wide-brimmed cowboy hats you see in Westerns.
The Derby Hat
The iconic Stetson came onto the market in 1865, and it wasn’t popular until the end of the 19th century.
A cowboy’s preferred choice of hat? The derby—also known as the bowler. Photos of the Wild Bunch from 1892 and 1900 clearly show the gang—Harry A. Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid), Ben Kilpatrick (the Tall Texan), Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy), Harvey Logan (Kid Curry), and Will Carver—donning derby hats.
Famous gunslinger and gambler Bat Masterson also favored the derby. The classic photo of American West gunfighter Billy the Kid depicts the outlaw wearing what resembles a top hat. Wild Bill Hickok was photographed in a flat, pancake hat. An 1882 photo of Jesse James shows the outlaw in a low-crowned cap with an upturned brim.
Men commonly wore hats on the American frontier, and derby hats were functional for various occasions. Most photographs from that time feature men wearing them and one of the reasons they were popular is because they stayed on in windy conditions.
More Hat History
Frontiersman typically wore hats related to their employment, and they were commonly made of beaver fur-felt and were natural in color. In addition to the derby, men wore flat wool caps, Mexican sombreros, or old Civil War hats (such as the kepi).
As for the ten-gallon hat, it would have been impractical, even if it was impressive to 20th-century moviegoers. Famous lawmen such as Wild Bill Hickok and Wyatt Earp wore low-crowned hats because giant cowboy hats would have made them easy targets for adversaries.
The ten-gallon hat got its name from the Spanish word “Galón,” not because it could hold 10 gallons of water. Galón means braid, and many Spanish hats in that era had braids on them. One with 10 braids was called a Ten-Galón hat.
The original Stetson was dubbed “The Boss of the Plains,” and it didn’t resemble what we think of as a cowboy hat today. It featured a high crown and wide brim and looked a bit like an Amish hat. It was waterproof and shielded the wearer from elements such as the sun and rain. The hat’s design, which didn’t have a crease on the open crown, stayed the same for several years.
The Wonderful Wild West
John Stetson’s classic cowboy hat was possibly inspired by the Spanish-derived hats he encountered after he moved to the West. He created the iconic headwear, which features a crease in the middle of a high crown with a dent on each side, allowing the wearer to remove it by the crown instead of the brim.
Legend is that he met a cowboy on the road, who was so impressed by the hat that he gave Stetson $5 for it (a rather large amount at that time). The rest is history. By the 1870s, cowboys took to customizing their hats, and in 1872, Montgomery Ward Catalog sold hats that allowed men to shape the crowns and brim to suit their preferences.
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