El Paso police lure criminals with free Xbox 360.

http://gamernode.com/upload/manager///Billy/Nov07news/handcuffs1196381031.jpg

The El Paso Times reported on a successful line of police stings that led to 115 arrests on Monday. From November 5-9, a warrant roundup took place by El Paso police and they used promises of prizes including a television and an Xbox 360 to lure criminals over. When they showed up to claim their winnings, they were rewarded instead with a free vacation to jail.
In addition to 129 warrants being cleared, El Paso picked up over $25,000 in traffic fines. The warrants served included drug charges, illegal entry charges and violent crimes.
Police chief Richard Wiles said, "We are very pleased with this operation. This is the kind of operation that really benefits the community of El Paso. I think it is important for the citizens of El Paso to know what the Police Department is doing and what the U.S. Marshal's Office is doing because we do take these outstanding warrants very seriously and we want to put the resources into getting these people behind bars."
Interestingly enough, Wiles said the El Paso police tried traditional arrest methods, such as going to the person's house to make an arrest, but they didn't work. Like I always say, people like free things, so why nab the criminals this way. Anyone else interested in a study to see which of the three consoles would result in the most successful arrests?

Source (http://gamernode.com/news/5227-el-paso-police-lure-criminals-with-free-xbox-360/index.html)

remind me not to claim ainy of my winnings via mail or otherwise lol......

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5919/alcatrazprisonpicture3ck7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

If they were wanted by the law they should have known better than to show up at an event where they were named in writing. But then I guess that would make them smart criminals and who knows one of those?

Story: I had an old college friend of mine try to pull that trick of showing up at an event, getting his” prize” and then promptly fled the state several years ago. He was a student at Iowa Law School. He was also wanted by the police for felony marijuana possession after getting pulled over with two pounds of weed in his car (and one headlight out). So I bailed him out of jail with $3,000 of dirty cash (good friend that I was) and straight away he went right back to dealing pot to pay his legal fees. Dumbass. Meanwhile this whole time he's going to law school. I don't know how the hell he managed it. Out on bail and still making the grade at law school while openly selling pot. Cra-zy.

But he did manage to graduate right as the noose tightened. The cops were waiting for him at graduation because he missed his sentancing hearing. However somehow he gave them the slip, left his car at his house and grabbed a backpack full of belongings (pre-packed) and hit the bus station. He caught the first thing smokin' out of town - in this case a bus headed for Seattle. But the long arm of the law caught up with him in the end

After various misadventures (including a trip to Bermuda to celebrate the Year 2000 with his "sugar momma") he was finally caught by the police some time later back in the States. He ran out of gas on the Seattle freeway! Cop pulls over, asks him for his ID and that was it. Why he didn't have a fake one I'll never know. That would have been the first thing I hooked up if I were in his felon-on-the-run shoes.

So yeah, I'll continue with my story. He fought extradition back to Illinois (where he had been caught with the 2lbs of pot) because he knew their jails sucked compared to those of the State of Washington. But the State of Illinois successfully won after four months of his legal shenanigans and then carted my law school graduate (with honors) pal back to the State of Illinois in chains. And then - in his words - “they threw the book” at him. He did two years in a maximum security prison in the state of Illinois with the worst sort of guys. Murderers, rapists, gang bangers and then my skinny law school graduate pal in the mix with all of them. I found all of this out when I Googled his name a few years back and I got a hit on the Illinois Department of Corrections website. "Holy Shit they caught him!" is what I exclaimed at high volume in a library full of people. So I wrote to him in prison and got the story back in a letter sent via prison mail.

He used his law degree to help all of these gang bangers try to get early parole and in turn they didn't bang him. He got VERY lucky. He also lucked out and got a cellmate (or "cellie" as they call them) that was a big gang member / pimp out of Chicago. This guy named "Rico" (after the RICO Statute) was pimping out his male bitches in the prison and in turn the inmate who got to bang these poor gay bastards would pay in cigarettes and other prison currency. So my friend had all the smokes he wanted - even a television - in his tiny cell with this gang banger pimp named Rico. And he helped Rico try to get another trial but he was too hard core a crimnal for that I guess. Still, my pal got paid his legal fees in smokes and ass protection.

Crazy stuff. He SHOULD have gotten a fake ID or maybe never been selling weed to get through law school but that's how it was. When he got out of jail we were going to meet up but I got the flu so I never saw him. I did talk to him a couple of times on the phone, though. I was living near Illinois at the time and he wasn't allowed to leave the state for another two years so he asked if I would go in on a townhouse with him. I said politely no way in hell since he was obviously a bad risk at that point. But a good friend to this day - wherever he is. Last reports say Florida. Hopefully he didn't violate parole. And remember kids the moral of the story is keep your name clean or use a different one!