Some criminal cases are unusual, humorous or just outright odd. And there's no shortage of them on the Treasure Coast. This column will highlight cases that often leave observers shaking their heads.
Maybe she needs her own help
A Stuart woman was arrested Aug. 25 and charged with driving under the influence and possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana.
The woman had slurred speech and started to stumble when she got out of her vehicle. She failed standard driving under the influence tests.
But what made the arrest unusual was what she told the officer.
"She began to cry and told me that this couldn't happen to her because she was a substance abuse counselor," the arrest affidavit said.
One must wonder how a person who posseses a drug illegally - she claimed it belonged to a client - and abuses alcohol can help others who have the same problems.
Serial tire slasher
Apparently a dispute over box springs resulted in one person slashing the tires of another person's vehicle on two occasions.
It all started when one man sold another man box springs. The buyer, who apparently did not pay upfront for the box springs, discovered that the box springs did not fit his bed and wanted to return it. But the seller only wanted the money.
The two men work at the same restaurant in Jensen Beach. The buyer discovered one day that his tires were slashed and suspected the seller. However, he did not report the incident to police.
He got the tires fixed and went home. The next morning his tires were slashed again.
A witness told Port St. Lucie police that he saw the man fitting the description of the seller go up to the buyer's car at the residence.
The seller up going to jail and as a result the tires of cars in Port St. Lucie and Jensen Beach may be safer.
The last laugh
On one level, the call seemed serious to emergency responders. The caller said he had been doing drugs and drinking, planned to kill himself and had a gun.
But the emergency response operator also could hear people laughing in the background.
The call went to Rochester, N.Y., responders because the cell phone had a number from that area.
Emergency responders, despite having doubts, got the call to Port St. Lucie police where the cell phone was at the time.
Port St. Lucie police spent considerable time tracking down the residence where the phone was located. They called the number, but the person who answered wouldn't give them information.
When they finally tracked down the residence, a 20-year-old man admitted to making the call to impress some other people. He said he wasn't suicidal, had not used drugs or alcohol and did not own a gun.
Authorities got the last laugh when they arrested him and charged him with misusing the emergency system.
Too impatient
Everyone gets frustrated when they call an office and can never reach the person with whom they want to talk.
But authorities say a Port St. Lucie woman took her frustrations too far when she couldn't get an attorney to return her call immediately, even though she had apparently never had any dealings with him previously.
An arrest affidavit for the woman detailed a series of bizarre calls she is accused of making to the law office.
The woman called once and the secretary told her the attorney was on the other line.
But the woman insisted the attorney wanted to talk to her.
After being told again he was on another line, the woman hung up, called again and said to the secretary, "Listen you b-ch, let me talk to him."
Again the secretary told her, he was on another line.
The woman called twice more and told the secretary to hang herself. In a subsequent call, the woman told the secretary, "I'm glad you're going to die soon."
Then she told the secretary, she was going to blow up the office of the attorney and hung up.
The woman called again and told the secretary, "Tic Tic Tic, you... you're not dead yet?"
In her final call, the woman threatened to "rape" the secretary's grandchildren, the secretary told police.
The woman ended up going to jail. It's probably doubtful the attorney she was trying to contact will represent her in the criminal case.