A wireless phone salesman became a high-tech sleuth when a friend’s car was stolen in Chicago with his phone inside.

When Chicago musician and Web designer Eddie Kim had his car stolen in Chicago Friday night, he called his friend Matthew Carney, who lives in Interlochen, to help him cancel his phone service.

But Carney, who works for Sprint PCS in Traverse City, convinced Kim to keep the phone activated so that he could monitor the calls and possibly locate the car.

“I told him it may be the best tool he’s got working for him if he ever wants to see his car again,” Carney told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a story Thursday. “It was just kind of a lucky break that the guy was dumb enough to keep using the car and keep using the phone.”

Carney determined on Saturday morning that several calls had been made to a number in South Bend, Ind. He figured that the phone was being used in South Bend by connecting it to a signal tower there.

Kim called police in South Bend, but he could not convince them to take him seriously, Carney said.

After promising Carney that he would not confront anyone if he discovered his car, Kim went to South Bend.

Kim went to an address he found by entering the South Bend number on a reverse telephone look-up Web site.

Kim found an off-duty police officer who lived nearby and asked for help.

But Kim convinced the officer to help him just as he spotted his car driving away. A police chase involving a dozen patrol cars ensued and police eventually arrested an 18-year-old Chicago man.

Kim’s car was recovered Saturday night.

A teen-aged bank robber in dire need of a lesson in handwriting stole a scene from a Woody Allen comedy, “Take the Money and Run.”

Police in Rochester, New York said Brittany Bell, 16, bungled a robbery at an HSBC bank by failing to write out her demands clearly in a holdup note.

The teller couldn’t decipher the writing and had to pass the note to another teller. By the time the teen was handed a bag of money, it was almost closing time at the bank and other employees were locking the doors.

She wound up trapped in the foyer with the cash, where police captured her. She was charged with robbery and grand larceny.

A would-be hostage-taker learned two important rules of criminal conduct early this morning: Don’t go into a house where you’re outnumbered and don’t fall asleep on the job.

An 18-year-old man was arrested today after allegedly committing a string of robberies and then breaking into an apartment where he held six hostages at gunpoint. But deputies say after the man had been in the apartment for about two hours, he either fell asleep or passed out.

When the occupants of the apartment realized what had happened, they took the man’s gun and called police.

The incident began Thursday at Francesco’s Restaurant, 1922 W. 5400 South, when a man with a gun entered about 10:47 p.m. and demanded money, Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Lt. Leslee Collins said.

An employee told him the money was locked in a safe that she couldn’t open. The man, instead, took the woman’s purse, car keys and truck, Collins said.

From there, the man apparently committed a series of convenience store robberies. The first was at a Holiday Oil in West Valley City. Then just after midnight, deputies were called to another Holiday Oil, 6189 S. 3200 West, that had been robbed.

Then a 7-Eleven near 4800 S. State was robbed. In all three incidents, the robber’s description matched the suspect from Francesco’s, Collins said.

Deputies searching for the man spotted the restaurant employee’s stolen truck about 1:30 a.m. today near 3900 South and 700 West. The driver apparently jumped out of the truck and ran to the Fairway Apartments, 1141 W. 3900 South, where he entered an apartment that was unlocked.

Inside, he found six adult males sleeping and kept them at bay at gunpoint, Collins said.

The man, however, allegedly stole beer from some of the convenience stores and apparently had been drinking. About 3:35 a.m. he apparently fell asleep on the couch. The six occupants of the apartment took advantage of the situation and apprehended the man as they called the sheriff’s office.

Deputies were already in the area looking for the man and arrived at the apartment immediately. The man was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation on a number of charges, Collins said.

Story courtesy of Utah Deseret News

A glob of dog excrement on a Queensland, Australia robber’s shoe has been used as evidence to identify him, landing him with a 10-year stretch for a betting shop hold-up on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Police said Thursday they had used enhanced photos from a security camera to match the pattern of excrement found at the crime scene to that on 26-year-old Jacob Smith’s shoe.

“It’s not rocket science. It’s as plain as poo on your shoe,” police sergeant Alan Piper, a veteran scientific officer, was quoted by local media as saying.

“It could have been one of a thousand or ten thousand shoes, but because that poo was there it was creating a great big feature that allowed us to go to a positive identification.”

“I’d say there has been some more poo on the shoe but it has worn away,” said Piper, who admitted to also doing a smell test.

Smith, who had wrapped a sheet around his face to hide his identity during the heist, was jailed in June for 10 years and 10 months on charges of robbery, being armed and in company and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

A MAN who tried to rob a 7-Eleven store with a chocolate bar after going on a September 11-inspired binge will be sentenced today.

Gerard Ahearne, 44, feared the world was going to end after he watched New York’s World Trade Centre crumble a year ago today.

The County Court has heard that the attacks motivated Ahearne to go on a bender.

Two weeks later, he found himself drunk outside a Richmond hotel about 1am. He walked across the road to his local 7-Eleven in Victoria St, where he was well known.

After his request for an Eftpos cash withdrawal was refused, he grabbed a chocolate nougat bar.

“This is a hold-up,” he told the attendant, who refused his demand for cash amid laughter from other customers.

He later told police that because he “didn’t get too far with the chocolate bar” he decided to go home and get a knife. Ten minutes later, he was back.

He threatened the attendant, whom he later described as a personable bloke, with a pocket knife and robbed him of $800.

Ahearne then went to Crown casino and blew most of the money.

Ahearne, who pleaded guilty to armed robbery, said drunken insanity prompted his crime.

“There was part of me that’s freakin’ out, as the world is comin’ to an end,” he told police.

“‘Cos of what happened in America a couple of weeks ago . . . I have been pretty freaked out.

“That’s one of the reasons that I have gone on that bender. You know, like, just, this is the end of the world, you know.”

Bungling car thief Andrew Birch found himself caught in a jam after smashing a window of a vehicle he planned to steal.

In a drunken state, he tried to squeeze in through the broken window and became stuck fast, unable to move.

When police arrived at the scene in Craigielea Road, Renfrew, he was still wedged in the window, half in and half out, Paisley Sheriff Court was told.

Birch, 21, formerly of Muir Street, Renfrew, pleaded guilty to attempting to steal the vehicle and also admitted two further charges of being in unlawful possession of a bread knife in the town on October 27 last year, and theft of a camera worth £100 from The Highland Star Restaurant, Dunlop Crescent, Renfrew, on July 18 this year.

A defence agent said Birch had a chronic alcohol problem which was at the root of his offending behaviour.

Birch, he said, had spent a short period in the Army but that service had come to a premature end due to his drinking problems.

He urged Sheriff Colin Pettigrew to place his client on probation to give him a chance to seek alcohol counselling, saying if that issue was not properly addressed, he would present a high risk of re-offending.

Sheriff Pettigrew said background reports on Birch painted a depressing picture.

Birch was placed on probation for a year on the attempted car theft charge and had sentenced deferred on the other complaints for three months for the court to monitor his progress.

Meanwhile, in Australia . . .

By JOHN COLES

STUNNED Tony Jones rang his own mobile phone after it was stolen and the dozy thief revealed his name.

The moron swiped the Nokia, a TV, video and other valuables during a raid on Tony’s house.

The next day, fuming Tony rang the mobile on the off-chance the culprit would give a clue to his identity. Tony planned to pretend he was from the phone firm and was offering a special deal.

But he was amazed when the crook blurted out his name unprompted within seconds.

Tony said: “I hoped to trick the thief into giving some detail about himself. But I didn’t have to he simply answered and gave his name.

“I said ‘thank you very much’ and cut him off.”

Married Tony, 35, immediately tipped police off with the unusual name.

Officers traced the man to an address, where they found the phone and other items belonging to Tony.

The suspect and two other men were charged with burglary in Cwmparc, Rhondda.

Det Insp Paul Cannon, of South Wales Police, said: “It is one of the easiest crimes we’ve ever solved. I just wish all villains were that daft.”

Three men appeared in court and are on bail.