In Waller County there is an RV parked named Jellystone RV Park. There used to be a big fiberglass Yogi Bear standing in front, but he was stolen. It happened before I became a prosecutor there, but I believe the theft of Yogi was a state jail felony. According to other assistants, the best part of the case was the 911 tape of the frantic owner shouting, "They took Yogi! They took Yogi!"

Personally I consider a large fiberglass Yogi Bear to be an attractive nuisance. How long can you expect a 17 year old with a truck to drive by, taunted by that Yogi, until he is forced to take him for a little ride!

Not only was Yogi stolen, he was broken and couldn't be put back together again! And he was stolen before the SJF days, so it was a third degree felony (like Tuck's chain mail, you'd be amazed at how much it cost to replace Yogi)!

A burg. hab. The 17 year old neighbor broke in and stole female victim's vibrator, her collection of porno mags and DVDs, her Hustler magazine trading cards, and her bong. He confessed, too. Victim said she kept the bong around the house because it was a sentimental reminder of her college days. I figured the virbrator and porn were self-explanatory. But I do wonder what a 17 year old guy wants with a vibrator!

Then there was the guy who reported that the money order with which he was going to pay his electricity bill was stolen. The money order was traced to the county clerk's office, where the victim's former roommate had used it to pay his probation fees.

Oh yeah, the 17 year old failed to appear in court a couple of weeks ago. So if anyone gets a young defendant with some strange proclivities, please call.

Our SO received a report on burg. of habitation - missing was the guy's illegal knife, one-hitter, and weed. He told our sheriff he really wanted the knife and pipe back. Too bad we never found a suspect, that one would have been fun...

One of the first cases I prosecuted involved two juveniles boys stealing a ring from a dead body, right off of her finger, while she was in the funeral home.

Theft of AND possession of drug paraphanalia? Excellent.

Stop N Go clerk calls and reports he just received a bad check at 2 or 3 am. It was really bad, it was a check that had already been filled out and signed, the bad guy crosses out the payee, amount, and signature - then fills in payee as Stop N Go, the amount for his gas and cigarettes, and signs his real name. Gives his real TDL to the clerk for ID. Clerk accepts the check (DUH) and bad guy leaves. Of course, the bad guy is not the name of person on account. Clerk thinks about the situation for an hour or so then calls the PD.

Named person on account is no longer at address on check, but is located because he has an uncommon name. It takes some memory recall, but he remembers he did have that checking account, but he closed the account ten years prior and the bank was out of business for several years. He knows the bad guy, used to hire him for odd jobs, has not seen him in years.

Turns out, bad guy hired several years before to clean out the attic of the home of the checkowner's recently deceased mother. The check owner had left old records in boxes in the attic. Bad guy must have taken the check instead of trashing it. Then holds on to it for several years and decides to use it.

When caught, he wanted to know how we knew it was him - DUH

Our defendant stole only Disney Movies. Over the past 18 years he had stolen Disney Movies in VHS, Laserdisc and DVD formats. His MO? To secrete up to 15 DVDs (the new format made for larger numbers) in a big pocket sewn to the inside of his jacket. He would then walk briskly to the door. He favored Ekerd Drug Stores because the merchandising placed the product near the door. He could never be charged above a state jail felony theft however because he had no other type of conviction but theft.

A couple of yeras ago, he was again out of prison and caught stealing ten copies of yet another of Disney's latest releases. This time he made the strategic error of failing to appear on trial day. We indicted him for bond jumping and used and old third degree theft u/$750 to enhance him to a second. The jury gave him 12 to do and the local bondsmen posted the j & s under glass at the sheriff's bond desk.