While about 65,000 fans watched the Buccaneers lose to the Green Bay Packers Sunday, detectives focused on a Bud Light booth near the south end zone of Raymond James Stadium.

In their sights was a retired Army man gathering used cups from tables, refilling them without even a rinse, and selling them to unsuspecting fans.

The man, John Angelus Keene, 68, a volunteer concessions worker, pocketed $1,080 in unreported sales of the beer at Sunday’s game, Tampa police Detective Bill Todd said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,'’ said Todd, who has worked stadium security for more than 15 years. “Naturally, you think of health issues.'’

Keene, of 6324 Newton Circle, Tampa, faces a felony grand theft charge. He was released Monday from the Orient Road Jail on $2,000 bail.

Keene could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

“We don’t anticipate any other arrests,'’ Todd said. “He will never be back there, and I don’t think the group will ever be back there.'’

Records show Keene is retired from the Army and has three convictions for driving while intoxicated on his driver’s license since 1990.

A colleague at the booth told police that Keene has pocketed extra money for two years by offering refills, Todd said.

Todd did not know the exact name of military retiree group working with Keene. Aramark Inc., the food-service company in Philadelphia that provides the stadium’s concessions, declined to release it.

Aramark trains volunteers in food safety and arranges for them to work the booths in exchange for part of the earnings, usually about 10 percent, said Doug Warner, a company spokesman. The company keeps track of the food, equipment and supplies used such as cups and plates, he said.

On Sunday, Aramark alerted police after they realized they were selling more Budweiser and Bud Light at the booth than was being reported. The booth also sold peanuts, soda and water, Warner said.

The beer cost $5.75 for a 20- ounce draft and $7.25 for a 32- ounce draft, Warner said.

Keene told police he planned to turn in the cash as earnings, but detectives found he had already signed a voucher for the day’s sales, Todd said.

Saliva on the cups could transmit germs such as those that cause influenza, but without knowing about a specific infected person, Jyl Kintz, an epidemiologist with the county health department, said the public health risk was low.

Todd has arrested concessions volunteers in the past. Last year, police charged a mother raising money for her daughter’s cheerleading squad with skimming about $700 from a booth’s proceeds.

“They’re hurting their own organization by doing this,'’ Todd said.

Story courtesy Valerie Kalfrin and the Tampa Tribune

A man changing a flat tire choked to death on a bag of marijuana he stuffed down his throat in an apparent attempt to hide it from police who stopped to help him early Wednesday.

Cpl. Frank Lott of the Corinth, Texas Police Department said officers had no idea Nickolas Sandoval, 24, of Ponder, had drugs when they spotted him on Interstate 35E in Corinth, about 45 miles northeast of Fort Worth.

“Officers went from ‘Oh, hey, here is someone with a flat tire’ to ‘Hey, this guy is choking,”‘ Lott told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for its online edition Wednesday.

Officers noticed a plastic bag lodged in the man’s throat, but it was too far down for them to extract. They kept trying to dislodge it until an ambulance arrived, and medical personnel were able to remove it, Lott said.

Sandoval was pronounced dead at Denton Regional Medical Center about 3:30 a.m., said Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. The cause of death has been ruled as “asphyxiation due to aspiration of plastic bag,” she said.

Sandoval had been convicted in Denton County of multiple counts of marijuana possession, a Class B misdemeanor, between September 1999 and December 2001, court records show. He pleaded guilty to the charge in September 1999 and received a deferred adjudication sentence after 12 months of probation.

In August 2000, he pleaded no contest to another marijuana possession charge and was sentenced to 40 days in jail. In December 2001, he was convicted of possession of marijuana and sentenced to 95 days in jail. Also in December 2001, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was sentenced to another 95 days in jail.

At the drawing board, it must have seemed like the perfect crime.

1. Cut out large square of checkered flannel cloth.

2. Drape cloth over head to hide face.

3. Secure cloth with hat.

4. Rob bank.

5. Spend fortune.

However, Modesto’s latest bank robber forgot one small detail: eye holes.

So on Monday, as he entered Oak Valley Community Bank at 1419 McHenry Ave., at Orangeburg Avenue, the robber slightly lifted the front corner of the cloth so he could see where he was walking, police Detective Tom Blake said.

Lifting the cloth too high would have revealed his face. The obstruction forced him to walk with a noticeable shuffle.

However, that wasn’t the only reason he stood out. The rest of his disguise featured white cloth gardening gloves, a longsleeved pink shirt and tight faded Wrangler jeans.

The robber saved his best move for last. After he stashed an undisclosed amount of cash in a blue plastic shopping bag, the teller watched as the man shuffled toward the door, all the while carefully holding up the front corner of his disguise.

“But he forgets which side the door hinges were on,” Blake said. “He walks into the steel door frame, bangs his head into the frame and knocks his hat off. He backs up a bit, still holding onto his hood, and shuffles out the door.”

The man, described as having a skinny build and a raspy voice, shuffled across McHenry Avenue and met an accomplice. The two men last were seen driving east on Briggsmore Avenue in a full-sized silver car.

Police ask anyone with information to call 572-9551.

Story courtesy Ty Philips and the Modesto Bee

He wasn’t charged with being smart.

Wilbert Boswell was arraigned Tuesday and charged with armed robbery after allegedly holding up a Payless ShoeSource in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Police arrested Boswell after he walked into the police station seeking the cell phone he’d lost in the parking lot.

“When you’re dealing with criminals at this level, you find they aren’t very sharp,” Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer said. “He obviously made a lot of errors.”

According to police, Boswell, 49, of Detroit allegedly went into Payless, at 30052 Grand River, and walked up to the cashier with a pair of black shoes and a small, black revolver. The robber demanded money, Dwyer said.

He left the store with $85, but he dropped his cell phone, Dwyer said. Someone turned it in to police. Dwyer said officers found Boswell’s address through a home number stored in the phone. Then, they staked out his home.

They also called Boswell and told him they had found his cell phone and that he could pick it up at the police station. Boswell allegedly disguised himself and then went to claim his phone.

But he went to the wrong location, the Farmington Public Safety Department.

Farmington police called Farmington Hills police and Boswell was arrested at 8:30 p.m. Monday, about seven hours after he allegedly robbed the shoe store.

Dwyer said Boswell has an extensive criminal record that includes bank robbery.

Boswell was arraigned in 47th District Court in Farmington. He is being held in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $50,000. Armed robbery carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Dwyer said it is hard to believe a suspect would be dumb enough to walk into the police station the day he allegedly pointed a gun at a store clerk.

“But,” Dwyer said, “he was.”

Story courtesy Frank Witsel and the Oakland Free Press

Two teenage boys face arson charges after attempting a fiery stunt on the roof of a shopping mall.

According to the Clay County, Florida Sheriff’s Office, the youths planned for the older boy, 16, to be doused in lighter fluid and set on fire, while the other, 15, captured the stunt on videotape.

When the fire was lit, the 16-year-old panicked, scorching his hands as he removed burning clothing, said Mary Justino, a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

The incident occurred about 7 p.m. Sunday, about an hour after the Orange Park Mall closed. One youth was apprehended by security guards and the other was found hiding on the roof.

The burning clothing caused minor damage and was put out by a security guard, Justino said.

The 15-year-old youth was taken to the Duval County Juvenile Detention Center on charges of arson, arson with injury, and burglary of an occupied building.

The 16-year-old was treated at Orange Park Medical Center and released to his parents. He will face similar charges.

The names of the youths were not released because of their ages.

A video camera was being held as evidence, and authorities withheld the videotape.

London store Harvey Nichols suffered damage worth more than 500,000 pounds after a drunken employee from rival store Harrods set off its sprinkler system, The Daily Telegraph in London said today.

Designer televisions and music systems were destroyed in the flood, which happened in April after the man had been drinking in the fifth floor bar of the Harvey Nichols store in central London, the newspaper said.

According to The Daily Telegraph, police said the man had been caught on closed-circuit television talking to a couple of girls as they were preparing to get the lift down.

“He was completely inebriated and starts looking at the sprinkler system,” said police spokesman David Cahill, quoted in the newspaper.

“He gets out what we think is a lighter and holds it up to the sprinkler,” Cahill said.

“All 8,000 gallons of water from the entire sprinkler system then emptied out through the one sprinkler,” he said.

Cahill said the incident appeared to be a prank and nothing to do with store rivalry.

Harvey Nichols and Harrods were unavailable for comment late Thursday.

A semi truck driver who was changing his clothes while driving east on U.S. 6 rolled his truck while going around Nelson’s Curve near U.S. 35, shutting down traffic for more than three hours.

No other vehicles or people were involved and the driver was reported to have no clothes on when he climbed out of the truck after the accident, according to the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department.

Terry Gilmore, 59, of Ohio, told police he had set the cruise control to 60 mph and was changing his clothes when he approached the curve near CR-125E. He misjudged the turn, causing his truck, owned by Piqua (Ohio) Transportation and Storage, to roll off the road and damage two fences in the 1100 block of U.S. 6.

Police responded at 7:47 p.m., shutting down the eastbound lane of U.S. 6 from U.S. 35 until 11:04 p.m.

Gilmore was not seriously hurt, but was transported to LaPorte Hospital, police said.

A witness told police she found Gilmore naked when she went to check on him right after the accident.