6,000 Cheesecakes & 7 Other Strange Robberies

facebooktwitterreddit

Most criminals rob banks, steal cars, or maybe just take your wallet. But some crooks have gone for less conventional targets over the years. Like Kurt Cobain's ashes, or 6,000 cheesecakes.

1. Bridge Today, Gone Tomorrow

If someone offered to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, you'd know it was a scam. But if someone in Khabarovsk, Russia, were to offer you a 200-ton steel bridge, they might actually deliver. In January 2008, employees on their way to a remote heating plant were forced to find an alternate route after the 38-foot steel bridge they crossed the day before had vanished. While the workers slept, scrap metal thieves dismantled the span and supports and loaded it all onto trucks for a quick getaway. The plant's owners estimated it would cost around $40,000 to build a new bridge. This time, though, they were going to use concrete.

2. Lifting Lingerie

madonna-bra
madonna-bra /

3. Somebody Call for a Bambulance?

Escaped psychiatric patient Leon Hollimon stole an ambulance in Lexington, North Carolina, and led police on a cat-and-mouse chase for hours, traveling through four different counties in two states. One of the cops likened the chase to an episode of Dukes of Hazzard. Eventually, the culprit ran off the road and was apprehended wearing a stethoscope, carrying latex gloves, and sporting a mohawk. It was an odd enough crime, but it got really weird when authorities found, splayed in the back, a dead deer with an IV stuck into its body. There was also evidence that Hollimon had tried using a defibrillator on the animal. Hollimon was taken to a nearby mental health facility for evaluation.

4. Kurt Cobain, Meet Cheech and Chong

cobain
cobain /

5. Hulk Wrestles Ex-Wife for Toilet Seat

wwf-magazine-hogan
wwf-magazine-hogan /

6. Head Deadhead's Head Missing

The Hulkster isn't the only one with missing toilet woes. After Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia died, Henry Kolty bought the rock star's home and auctioned off items from the house to raise money for charity. In March 2006, Kolty sold Garcia's toilet for $2,550 to casino Goldenpalace.com. But before it could be delivered, the throne was stolen from Kolty's driveway. The casino offered $250 for the return of the commode, but it was never found.

7. Now I Just Need a Few Tons of Strawberries...

On December 26, 2009, truck driver Gary LaSalle left his big rig and refrigerated trailer parked near Orlando International Airport with a group of similar delivery trucks. He took the keys with him, but left the cooling unit running on the trailer to protect his valuable cargo, which he would be delivering to North Carolina in the morning. When he returned the next day, his $50,000 truck, the $120,000 trailer and its contents—6,000 cheesecakes, valued at $40,000—were gone. The police investigation is ongoing, but its doubtful the cheesecakes will ever be found.

8. Pilfered Pumps and Heisted Heels

marla-people
marla-people /

Ever heard of a crime and asked yourself, "Why would you steal that?" Ever had anything peculiar stolen from your own house? Tell us about it in the comments below!