http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/24/us/new-york-meatball-theft/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
This article describes a crime (wink, wink) of a housekeeper at the U.S. Military Academy by the name of Estelle Casimir. Casimir works in the mess hall at West Point and on January 30th she blatantly crossed a line. According to the manager of the mess hall, Casimir attempted to sneak a bag of frozen meatballs out of the kitchen claiming that it was garbage. The manager asked what she was holding and she reluctantly uncovered this frozen bag. So basically, the manager pressed charges for stealing and this housekeeper (who pleaded not guilty) faces up to two years in jail and a $2,000 fine on two accounts of misdemeanor. One of these is for stealing property and the other is for possessing stolen property (each is $1,000 and one year in jail).
In my opinion, this is completely ridiculous. For starters, if somebody is trying to steal food, especially something like this that they can just take home with them, there is a decent chance that she/her family are in need of food. Secondly, what is it that she is going to do with this bag of meatballs that the Military Academy wasn't? There's probably a 50/50 chance this was going to end up in the trash anyways. Lastly, and most absurdly: The U.S. is now going to spend thousands of dollars in trial and/or incarceration fees over a $5 bag of meatballs. The people pushing this case are the ones that should be prosecuted for wasting tax money. They should have just fired her and moved on if it was that big a deal.
Personally, I would have just given her a warning and told her not to do it again... Or better yet: just let her have the meatballs.
