Releaselog

Thief tries to steal TV by changing price tag to $3

Oh, shoplifters of the world — you’re not going to unite and take over with these kinds of tactics. A Kirksville, MO. man was arrested on Thursday for trying to boost a $517 Viore (yeah) LCD television by swapping the UPC tag with one from a $3.16 bottle of water.

Apparently, cashiers weren’t fooled by the admittedly paper-thin maneuver, and after four swipe attempts, a replaced paper spool, and one PA announcement for a store manager to come to register 14, they had the super-genius switcher thrown in the big house. If convicted, the man faces up to seven years in prison plus a hefty fine… and the lifelong shame of having tried to pull this stunt off.

Reginald Newman, 44, was indicted Monday by the Adair County Grand Jury and has been charged with attempted stealing by deceit. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000 or any combination of the two. He is in custody at the Adair County Detention Center on a $10,000 cash-only bond.

Source: Engadget, Fark

Comments (115)

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Pages: [1] 2 »
  1. Dimitri
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:07

    Oh, the shame.

  2. WTF
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:09

    They should not put charges on him due to absolute stupidity!

  3. mupet0000
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:12

    What type of store clerk would let him buy it at that price anyway. What an idiot.

  4. dragoshell
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:12

    what a looser :) :) :)

  5. ZeN
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:12

    I must agree with 2nd poster… I mean like… how stupid can u get to even try to pull off this thing ??? -_-

  6. eric
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:14

    Lol, just saw this on Engadget

  7. jayson76
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:15

    r5 of 10,000 bc is out

  8. Nyr
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:15

    No comments xD

  9. therapix
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:16

    What an idiot

  10. none
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:20

    haha droping the price to $3 was stupid, shoulda made it $150 might have stood a chance

  11. cekay
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:20

    Wahahaha… what a stupid fart.

  12. CrashingBore
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:21

    oh Kennii!

    I think I love you for that smiths-reference!

  13. dam
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:25

    the worst thing is, it’s not even a good tv

  14. alk
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:32

    7 years~? people get less than that for murder!

  15. Cool Dealer
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:34

    typical chinese switcheroo LOL

  16. incog
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:34

    lol he was silly for having the price so low but a very good scam indeed ;)

    B&Q scammer sold goods on eBay

    A Belfast man scammed almost £250,000 worth of goods from B&Q and sold them on internet site eBay.
    Philip Dumigan used fake barcodes which registered a lower price when he brought the items to the cashdesk.

    A judge said the 36-year-old, from Tildarg Crescent, had been involved in a sophisticated scam which had required careful planning.

    Dumigan, a father-of-three, was jailed for three years and placed on a year’s post-custodial supervision.

    The fraud was carried out at various B&Q stores across Northern Ireland, Belfast Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

    The goods amounted to £247,000 and involved 450 items, most of which Dumigan sold on eBay. ;)

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7049589.stm

  17. outlander
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:35

    I’d like to see the shoppers reaction when they find out that water prices have jumped 16500%

  18. jgv115
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:38

    what a dumb ass

  19. strengthofmind
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:43

    @ jayson76

    not according to the rest of the internet. how about a link?

  20. jayson76
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:46
  21. Mooney
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:46

    What’s up with rlslog? I have to refresh site several times to load it properly or it’s just down.

  22. nivroeg
    April 26th, 2008 | 12:51

    if he was smart he should’ve gotten one thats around 200-300. could make it look like its on clearance lol

  23. V
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:00

    what a fool …

  24. Mattus
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:01

    ha hahahahahaha thats so ridiculously stupid, why thats on herei do not know….

    @21 yea its been skrewing up alot lately

  25. jayson76
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:03

    hopefully soon 10 000bc r5

  26. Colin
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:04

    haha, what a dumbass.

    I’ve done something similar a couple of times before… you switch with a lower range model, not a freakin’ bottle of water! Haha

  27. fsdfs
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:10

    Never ever switch tags. You’re better off stealing than switching tags. Getting caught shoplifting = petty crime, no jail time in most countries and states. On the other hand, getting caught switching tags = fraud, a felony.

  28. nutek
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:12

    “Kirksville, MO” what would a redneck do with a LCDTV?

  29. phishybongwaters
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:18

    Attempting to ’steal’ a tv buy changing the price tag = 7 years
    Uploading a movie on the internet before it’s release date = 10 years

  30. ayeSIR
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:28

    offtopic, but:
    Grindhouse.2007.DVDRiP.XviD-TRVE is out! US theatrical grindhouse release with the faketrailers :o.

  31. me
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:34

    OT - Admin,

    Can connect to Rlslog maybe 20 - 25% of the time these days (since you changed the NL server), sometimes works with a proxy (sometimes doesnt), rest of the time you guys are down for me? You having server problems?

    Just asking, cheers

    p.s. I live in a nice liberal country and me ISP def isnt blocking this site…

  32. mickey d
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:40

    “If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000 or any combination of the two.”

    For something as petty as that? Only in America

  33. Mr. Trump
    April 26th, 2008 | 13:56

    CEO of that TV set company should make nice PR and install (for free) another monitor in that poor guys prison cell.

  34. Cool Dealer
    April 26th, 2008 | 14:27

    Yeah RSLOG is only UP for me at nights, down-HTTP Error 503 at daytimes.

  35. Wankstar
    April 26th, 2008 | 14:28

    According to the law in most of the european countries:

    If the buyer is in good faith, the seller HAS to sell the item for the price that is attached.

    Go look it up, i can give you the danish paragraf if ya like.

  36. Notn4
    April 26th, 2008 | 14:33

    slightly off-topic but could some1 PLZ! make a quick post about the forums??? i want to know whats beeing done and when i can acces the forums again !!?

  37. shawn
    April 26th, 2008 | 14:38

    he will get off - they have to prove that he switched the tags, so unless they have a witness or video showing this, he should be alright. Now one can argue that who could possible believe a tv would be $3? but I doubt they could convict on that argument alone.

  38. Newt182
    April 26th, 2008 | 14:38

    sounds like a good idea.. just not such a radical price drop

    btw.. i keep getting the 503 error.

  39. romeozor
    April 26th, 2008 | 14:45

    some guy here was making bar codes and replaced the ones on the products (nothing big tho) to get them cheaper. he was caught because he was using his mobile phone to take pictures of the original bar codes which he used to make the new ones

  40. Armstrong14
    April 26th, 2008 | 14:46

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    That’s hilarious, man! Why not find a worker’s cart and stick the tv on it (checking for no bar code) and walk outta the store with it?! haha He woulda got farther, seeing as how I worked in a Wal*Mart where people would try and pull stunts like that! :P

  41. dude
    April 26th, 2008 | 14:55

    I live about 30 min away from Kirksville MO and by the people that live there i am not surprised at all

  42. gunslinger
    April 26th, 2008 | 15:05

    @ 37.
    It would be great if they do have video of him doing it all, then someone could upload it to youtube and get a million hits in a week.

  43. Gary
    April 26th, 2008 | 15:07

    Stuff like this happens all the time at my local Wal*Mart. It is harder to change prices on bigger items, but people still do it.

  44. anonymous
    April 26th, 2008 | 15:27

    Common scam, but this guy could have at least tried to find a more expensive tag to be switched for. $3 is bound to raise eyebrows.

  45. jbbitty
    April 26th, 2008 | 15:32

    more importantly would the store charge the other customer $517 for drink bottle

  46. pop music is for f@ggots
    April 26th, 2008 | 15:34

    FANTASTIC RELEASE DOWNLOADING NOW!

  47. Nils
    April 26th, 2008 | 15:37

    3,16$ for a bottle of Water? That’s more evil than stealing a LCD TV.

  48. ssj4monkey
    April 26th, 2008 | 15:58

    @46. what u downloading?

    yea this guy is pretty pathetic.

  49. Jacktors
    April 26th, 2008 | 15:58

    $3 is too much for a bottle of water.

  50. BigDog
    April 26th, 2008 | 16:00

    7 years for being stupid? tale about a totalitarian regime…wow

  51. bulleh
    April 26th, 2008 | 16:03

    7 years up to jail? i hardly see him getting 6 months for that, unless previously convicted for something.

  52. horsewithnoname
    April 26th, 2008 | 16:13

    I liked the Smiths reference there.

    Give the guy some credit, he was trying to make a statement. The TV probably costs exactly $3.16 to manufacture in Taiwan or China… or that’s the weekly wage of those preteen TV assembly workers.

    Very subversive, but sadly lost on the market-fed sheeple.

  53. sath
    April 26th, 2008 | 16:26

    @48 ssj4monkey

    Mocking that this is in no way related to anything rlslog should be posting about. At least that’s the impression I get. Not related to a release.

    Plus maximum of 7 years. So that’s… probably get at most half of that. 3.5 years. Then early release/parole or whatever? I don’t think he would serve anywhere near 7 years, more like under a year + a fine.

    And if you think about it he kinda deserves it. It’s an actual attempted theft through fraud/dishonesty, and there needs to be some deterent against that. If attempted theft/fraud = no prison time at all, then everyone would be trying it.

  54. jiggaboo
    April 26th, 2008 | 16:30

    He should have went through self-checkout. He wouldn’t have had to deal with pesky employees then. ;)

  55. whitney
    April 26th, 2008 | 16:31

    i thought i was the only one. i also have to refresh 2 or 4 times to see the site.

  56. KRIEGHOFF
    April 26th, 2008 | 16:46

    @55 Me too

  57. Newt182
    April 26th, 2008 | 17:26

    @53 you must be newbie. here at rlslog is a catergory called tech news which is nothing to do with releases. doh..

  58. rich
    April 26th, 2008 | 17:51

    ha ha this guy got pwned to the max!!! :-D

  59. AKF
    April 26th, 2008 | 17:58

    Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo……..this isn’t fair….he stole my idea :(

  60. whiterabbit
    April 26th, 2008 | 17:58

    THATS CRAZY I LIVE AN HOUR FROM THERE!!!

  61. someone
    April 26th, 2008 | 18:22

    why was he even arrested - just don’t sell it to him and throw him out….

  62. tacosrambo
    April 26th, 2008 | 18:34

    at wal-mart they have self-check and I changed the upc on the x-files complete series set to the upc of a 5 dollar dvd so it rang up as a five dollar dvd, so instead of paying about 100 bucks or more I got it for five dollars.That was the only time I did such a thing because I figured I would only try my luck once and in my opinion they got was what coming. the guy is stupid though anybody knows that a trick of that caliber involving an lcd tv is just stupidity.

  63. Bob Dole
    April 26th, 2008 | 18:44

    WOW. slammer for something that stupid

  64. Arnoldson
    April 26th, 2008 | 18:46

    I’d believe a clerk would let him get away with it…. if that clerk just came out of a lobotomy -.- one of the dumbest criminals ive heard of

  65. gavrielle
    April 26th, 2008 | 18:48

    For those of you who think this crime is “petty” please understand that it is the COST of the item in the theft or attempted theft that determines whether the charge is a misdemeanor or a felony. Not the harmlessness of the action. In some states (like Illinois), if the total amount is above $500, it will be prosecuted as a felony regardless.

    Just because the guy was stupid and foolish in the way he carried out his plan does not mean that the intent of what he did should be dismissed as silly. Shoplifting and scams such as that cost these businesses money. They in turn pass those losses onto us (mostly) honest consumers in the form of higher prices. And that’s what the crime is, friends. He wasn’t just screwing the business or their insurance company over - he was screwing us.

  66. rrpostal
    April 26th, 2008 | 18:52

    What his punishment will be depends a lot on his prior offenses. He’ll only do the maximum if he’s a career dumbass.

    Someone asked what would a redneck do with a lcd? Well obviously you don’t know poor america. Every hick town, trailer park and inner city is chock full of huge nice televisions. I think they give them out with welfare checks. Nascar looks much better in HDTV. Seriously though, I live in a college town, where presumably the kids don’t have lots of excess cash, but every window at night has a ball game on in high def. There are lots of BMWs and Hummers around also so whatever.

    Priorities are so out of whack. Of course I just spent $50 yesterday on things to make the wires look better in my PC, so who am I to judge?

  67. The Spelling Teacher
    April 26th, 2008 | 18:56

    @ #4 - As much of one as people who can’t spell “loser” properly.

    Loser. L-O-S-E-R. Loser.

    Class dismissed.

  68. rrpostal
    April 26th, 2008 | 18:57

    “so instead of paying about 100 bucks or more I got it for five dollars”

    When I was younger I’d do that sort of stuff. At some point you get better at math I figure because you realize what you are betting. It’s the $100 or so you could win against many thousands and a lifetime of regret and reminders. The risk vs benefit simply doesn’t make sense. The problem with “just doing it once” is that you realize it actually works and are tempted again and again.

    People say the same thing to me about torrents though. But there’s a principle involved there, right?

  69. pee pants
    April 26th, 2008 | 19:16

    Unless you a complete moron, getting caught actually changing price tags is pretty difficult. You just have to use your head, don’t go into a store with the mindset that you are absolutely going to do it, sometimes its just not going to happen. You also have to pick the checkout person carefully, if possible.

    The only reason theft hurts the consumer, is because the business doesn’t want to take the loss out of their bottom line while they make massive profits, and pay their upper management ridiculous wages.

    I don’t steal outright, but I will price change. Small businesses are hands off though.

  70. James
    April 26th, 2008 | 19:20

    65- well said, but your preaching to a bunch of ppl that sees nothing wrong with bootlegging movies before release or selling them. Also a bunch of readers here are usually in their teens and/or from a country where they laugh at laws. I’m proud that I live in a country where law and order means everything.

  71. Xen0veR
    April 26th, 2008 | 19:22

    OMG, i wanna be that dumb too ! xD… NOT ! :)
    no seriously, who’d be so stupid ? :D

  72. skippy
    April 26th, 2008 | 19:38

    how can he get 7 years for that silliness and snipes only gets 3 for millions in tax evasion?! doesn’t make sense…

  73. bobby
    April 26th, 2008 | 19:47

    @ gavrielle
    # 65

    O’ RLY … That means all though overprice LCD at Best Buy is just a result of people constantly ripping off the place…

    get your facts straight, the first rule of a for-profit business is to find a price equilibrium to maximize its profit..

    it doesnt matter if its overpriced, from people can afford it, it will be tagged……

  74. TheEnd187
    April 26th, 2008 | 19:55

    #69 i totally agree with you, i used to do that to get Krylons for $.099 at Wal-Mart, I always had to pick out the “noob” cashiers i bought so many from there, although I will say i only did this crap at Wal-Mart/Target and other places like that, If i just needed one i would just go to the local mom and pop store around the corner and actually pay full price for it.

  75. vpjtqwv
    April 26th, 2008 | 20:00

    it doesn’t work with self checkout, because often the self checkout can tell how much the WEIGHT of the product is, and if it weighs more or less, it starts talking back to you….so a 50 lb TV—> alarms going off @ self checkout….although it may work with a dvd or something.

  76. bobby
    April 26th, 2008 | 20:01

    @ James
    # 70

    The O’ Rly owl says, b$llsh@t…….

    i lol’d at your comment……. you are a hypocrite… just by logging on to rlslog you are supporting bootlegging…see those ‘Ads flashing’ at you….

  77. Jolly Roger
    April 26th, 2008 | 20:53

    He should have just switched the tags off another cheaper tv of the same brand, and purchase it when the store is busy, then he would have gotten away with it. Also it sounds pretty messed up that he got busted over something so silly, i think at worst he should have just got kicked out of the store.

  78. Andy
    April 26th, 2008 | 21:49

    Awesome smiths reference!

  79. yo
    April 26th, 2008 | 21:57

    it had to be a jew.

  80. gavrielle
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:04

    @73

    By your own words you are justifying your thieving by insisting that you are not to be blamed for the high prices other consumers have to pay. You want consumers to blame the store owners, whom you feel charge too much in the first place, and then won’t take the loss (and gracefully go out of business or cut their employees wages and benefits) when you *justifiably* steal their property/income to enhance your lifestyle.

    Well, this is how the real world works, Bobby. Someone makes a product, charges what they believe the market will bear and consumers pay for it, or not. Their choice. If you don’t like the prices at Best Buy, just do what I do: Don’t Shop There!

  81. holbein
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:10

    @79

    No, Reginald Newman is a good Christian boy of Scots-Irish descent. Jews are much, much smarter. Remember, they’ve had that whole world wide conspiracy thing going for a few centuries and are always rich bankers, doctors and lawyers. Trust me on this, and I’ll invite you to the next meeting of the world wide conspiracy. I’m chairing it in the basement of the House of Lords. Which we also own and operate.

  82. Tan
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:18

    What water bottle is $3.16? Thats damn expensive.

  83. Venomhed
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:19

    Obviously a BLACK GUY.

  84. Vondor, Prince of Xolosphere V
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:32

    The title made me laugh so hard

  85. biit
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:35

    lol do they have tags like that in states? Where I’m from all the barcodes are printed on the product itself (or packaging) so it would be pretty hard changing them around. Well I guess I can still lift my fruits so they register less on the vage. and other badass stuff like that.

  86. mepl
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:37

    omfg what scale of penalty is that?
    is that a newfound fascist state?
    f’king SCARY

  87. mastahblastah
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:51

    @83

    No, not a black guy. Reginald Newman is just a typically stupid, inbred white guy - just like you.

  88. dosguy
    April 26th, 2008 | 22:52

    That guy should get life in prison. He’s too damned stupid to be walking the streets. He’s a danger to himself and everyone around him.

  89. sath
    April 27th, 2008 | 00:45

    @57 Newt

    I was interpretting what the person was saying for the “huh, what download?” crowd. Doh…

    Newbie is so 2001.

  90. 12aces
    April 27th, 2008 | 00:54

    so i guess they have him on camera changing the price tags?
    otherwise how could they charge him?

  91. kwentyne
    April 27th, 2008 | 02:13

    FAIL

  92. glr
    April 27th, 2008 | 02:36

    Stupidity is not a crime. The store should thank him for his service of checking their level of security. Getting arrested and maybe a fine of max $100 should teach him not to try this again, sending him to jail over something this small is the dumbest solution possible especially thinking of the money the community is paying for people to be in jail.

    -1 America.

  93. Macedonian MALAKAS
    April 27th, 2008 | 03:20

    Well, I have DONE IT in my country Macedonia (the REAL not the Greek fraud) were I changes the tags of 10 silver frames with the price of plastic frames and I gain more than $400 U.S. dollars!

    I am clever or what??
    Yes I am! ALL the true Macedonians are clever!
    (not the fraud Greek Macedonia)

  94. lollypop
    April 27th, 2008 | 03:28

    I no not y he wuld like do sum stuped sh1t like dat dog. Like wat a m’c asshol. He is like so totaly dum that inbreed fuk face.

  95. F.Greece
    April 27th, 2008 | 04:11

    ..@ poster 93: I agree, F(u)ck Greece!!! Btw, Cover your ass i can see your matted fur from here ;) Bloody harry ass freaks, guess it acts like a cushion when your doing yourself’s in the ass-hole.

  96. F.Greece
    April 27th, 2008 | 04:14

    and yes u r greek, what f(u)ck tard Macedonian would post with the name ” Macedonian MALAKAS”. F(u)cken stupid greeks.

  97. superash
    April 27th, 2008 | 05:20

    Don’t turn rlslog into fark, please!

  98. F.Greece
    April 27th, 2008 | 06:19

    sorry, he just got on my nervous. All is calm and well now… hopefully didn’t offend too many rlslog readers and if i did i apologize

  99. F.Greece
    April 27th, 2008 | 06:19

    nerves*

  100. lapax
    April 27th, 2008 | 06:26

    The idea was good, but the stupid part was to try it at $3. Maybe he could have got away with it if he had a more believable price tag.

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