Curses, foiled again

When Thomas Peno, 50, appeared at a courthouse in Vernon, Conn., to answer a larceny charge, he broke into several cars in front of the building, according to police, who arrested him after he tried to sell a GPS unit stolen from one of the vehicles to a man who turned out to be the vehicle’s owner. (The Hartford Courant) Authorities in Snohomish County, Wash., charged Carlton Wopperer, 49, with insurance fraud after he claimed car thieves stole his collection of silk neckties, worth $33,000. His claim raised suspicion because it was the third time in nine years he reported his collection of 212 silk neckties had been stolen from his vehicle. Insurance investigators discovered that Wopperer had bought the ties but returned many of them within minutes of buying them and kept the receipts to back up his theft claims. (Seattle Times)

Nuts to charity

When Joe Cooper, 24, agreed to undergo a bikini waxing at a charity fundraising event in Leicester, England, onlookers bid to pull off the strips. One strip stuck to his scrotum, and an overenergetic tug by one bidder tore off several layers of skin, causing Cooper to nearly lose a testicle. He was taken to the hospital, where, “They told me if any more skin had come off, that would have been it,” he said, adding, “I’d never do it again.” (Associated Press)

Second-Amendment follies

Zachary A. Bowers, 22, fatally shot his father after the older man dared him to shoot, according to prosecutors in Jackson County, Mo. “Dad threw the gun in my hand and told me to pull the trigger,” Bowers told a police dispatcher. “I pulled the trigger and shot him.” (The Kansas City Star) Kathy Myers, 41, shot herself at her home in Niles, Mich., because she needed medical treatment for a month-old shoulder injury but was out of work and had no health insurance. She said medical personnel told her the injury “would have to be life-threatening or imminent danger for them to do anything, so I was making it be imminent danger that something had to be done.” The gunshot barely wounded her, however, and she was released from the hospital a few hours later. “I really didn’t accomplish what I hoped it would accomplish,” Myers said. “I was really hoping it would hit an artery or bone so they would do the surgery and fix me.” (South Bend, Indiana’s WSBT- TV News)

Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Authentication on demand.