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.
I hate to correct you on this article but a misdemeanor charge is less than a year in jail and less than $1000 in fines. These are felonies and she is a felon. I disagree with you when you say that this is completely ridiculous. Was this not a crime? What justifies a crime? Is there an asterix next to the seventh commandment allowing those with unidentified motifs a freebie? The point is that so far the facts say that a crime was committed here. Why should it go unpunished?
ReplyDeleteIf she is being charged with 2 years then you add them together to get the maximum of 2 years and $2,000. Thank you for displaying your ability to perform simple mathematics though, Matt. Whether it is a crime or not is completely irrelevant to what I was saying. I was saying that the person in charge of the mess hall should have done what he would have wanted somebody else to do in that situation. I'm not condoning her actions, far from it. But suing somebody over a $5 bag of meatballs IS ridiculous whether you think so or not. I'm glad you feel entitled because you are taking practical law, but then you should also know that this is going to result in more money wasted from the government on court costs. Give me a break, Matt.
Delete*2 misdemeanors that is*
DeleteAgain, those numbers are straight from the story. If you feel so superior to professionals being paid to write these articles, then I guess you should go talk to CNN.
DeleteI would have done the exact same thing. In the end it's only a stupid package of meatballs that barely cost a thing. She was probably stealing them because she actually needed them and if they thought it was that serious of a crime, why wouldn't they just let her go?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't our nation have enough problems? Yet somehow we seem to have time to debate over meatballs! These better be some big, delicious meatballs. They should sue the person wanting to sue the "thief" because it is such a stupid issue. Seriously, anything for money these days.
ReplyDelete