Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

School board trustee accused of ketchup theft
An Orange school board trustee known for his dark glasses, knit cap and rants at meetings was suspected of condiment stealing.
A Chapman University spokeswoman said the man was cited for petty theft on Saturday after he put a ketchup bottle under his clothing and left the school's cafeteria.
He could face 45 days in jail.
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Woman found guilty of 'bra-bery' attempt
Joy Sartin claimed she kept her money in her bra because she didn't have her purse with her, and she was only offering to pay a traffic ticket with it.
A jury, however, decided the 25-year-old lingerie model was trying to bribe a police officer who had stopped her for rolling through a stop sign and other traffic infractions.
Portland police Officer Cody Berne testified that Sartin offered him $270 she withdrew from her bra when he explained her car would be towed because her license had been suspended for drunken driving.
Sartin claimed she was just in a hurry to get home to her 4-year-old son after work.
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Condom Thief At Large In Mexico
Missing in Mexico: 5,000 condoms, sound equipment and a motor used to inflate a giant prophylactic, all stolen from a "condom-mobile" used to promote HIV/AIDS awareness.
The coordinator of an HIV/AIDS awareness tour, Polo Gomez, said the truck was taken Sunday from its parking spot in front of a friend's house in Mexico City.
It was recovered Wednesday in a shopping mall parking lot in a northern suburb - minus the condoms and the equipment. Gomez said the thieves left some 800 HIV tests and a 23-foot inflatable prophylactic, which were also in the vehicle.
The truck wasn't hard to locate. It features painted images of a peeled banana, the exposed part shaped like a condom, and a shirtless man saying: "I protect myself. Do you?"
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Man gets burned while using lighter to siphon gas
Police said a man was arrested after he used a cigarette lighter while trying to siphon gasoline from a van. The man, who was visiting friends, went to drive home early Saturday but realized that he didn't have enough gas in his SUV.
Police said the man tried to siphon the gas with help from another woman, but he couldn't see how much gas was in the container, so he used the lighter to check.
A blast of fire burned his hands and caused nearby residents to call police.
Police said he and the woman were located later in a store parking lot. He was arrested for theft and negligent use of burning materials.
The woman was referred to authorities for being party to theft.
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Bank Robbed Twice in Same Day by Two Different Bandits
A San Diego-area Wells Fargo bank was robbed twice on the same day — by two different robbers, according to the FBI.
The thieves, nicknamed "The Hard Hat Bandit" and "The Chatty Bandit" by federal agents, held up the La Mesa, Calif., branch about three hours apart, said FBI spokeswoman April Langwell.
"The Chatty Bandit," wanted in at least nine bank robberies since March, strolled into the bank about 3 p.m. Monday, brandishing a handgun and demanding cash.
Three hours later, the Wells Fargo was hit again when "The Hard Hat Bandit" — who has struck three times in the past week alone — walked in with a note ordering employees to give him money.
Neither thief has been arrested.
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Woman Wins House on eBay for $1.75
With a winning bid of just $1.75, a Chicago woman has won an auction for an abandoned home in Saginaw, Michigan.
Joanne Smith, 30, recently was the top bidder for the home during an auction on eBay, The Saginaw News reported. Her bid was one of eight for the home.
"I am going to try and sell it," she told the newspaper. "I don't have any plans to move to Saginaw."
Smith said she hasn't seen the property or visited Saginaw, which has been hard-hit by economic troubles in recent years.
There's a notice on the door of the home saying a foreclosure hearing is pending, the newspaper said. She must pay about $850 in back taxes and yard cleanup costs.
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'How Far Can You Bounce?'
Jeering onlookers goaded a teenager in Britain to jump to his death, undermining police efforts to talk him down, and then took pictures of the body.
Tuesday as 17-year-old Shaun Dykes prepared to jump from the top of a multi-storey carpark in Derby, northern England, spectators allegedly shouted to him: "How far can you bounce?"
As Dykes hesitated for three hours on the ledge while police unsuccessfully tried to reason him out of taking his life, teenagers who had gathered below shouted "Jump" and "Get on with it," according to police and witnesses.
Then after Dykes lay in a crumpled heap on the pavement the same hecklers rushed out from behind the police cordon to take photos of the body.
"When he (Dykes) fell, lots of people were screaming and crying but there were several groups of youths who ran from behind the cordon and they were taking pictures with their mobile phones."
"I found that sickening -- why would anyone want to take pictures of something like that?"
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Train engineer texted message 22 seconds before LA crash
A commuter train engineer sent a cell phone text message 22 seconds before his commuter train crashed head-on into freight train in Southern California last month, killing 25 people, federal investigators said Wednesday.
Cell phone records of Robert Sanchez, who was among the dead, show he received a text message a minute and 20 seconds before the crash and sent one about a minute later.
The finding led Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H. Boardman to announce an emergency order prohibiting use of personal electronic devices by rail workers operating trains and in other key jobs. The order must be published in the Federal Register to take effect. Spokesman Rob Kulat said that would happen "soon." California regulators have already enacted a ban.
Sanchez sent his last text message at 4:22:01 p.m. According to the freight train's on-board recorder, the accident occurred at 4:22:23 p.m.
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