The Wierd and the Wonderful

Police: Man steals jewelry during break in robbery trial

From: www.msnbc.com

A crime caper has everyone in Franklin, Tenn., buzzing. A man is accused of ripping off a jewelry store during a lunch break in his trial for robbery.

"This is one of those compelling stories that leaves you scratching your head, and as you're walking away asking yourself, 'Did that really just happen?'" Franklin police Sgt. Charles Warner said.

Police say Mark Burgen reached over the counter at Walton's Antique Jewelry and helped himself to pockets full of diamond bracelets, about $30,000 worth.

As he was leaving the store, employee Julie Walton caught him with a stolen Rolex watch in hand. He handed it over, apologized, then fled, she said.

"Just had no common sense whatsoever is pretty much what it boils down to," Walton said.

Burgen had somewhere else to be at the time — in court. He was on trial for an armed robbery he allegedly committed in 2009.

Jewelry store owner Mike Walton can barely stand to see the surveillance tape.

"You would think he would be on his best behavior, but this guy I guess just can't contain himself," Walton said.

When Burgen returned to court for the rest of his hearing, Warner says he hid the loot in the bushes outside the courthouse, so as not to set off the building's metal detectors.

Officers quickly tracked Burgen down and arrested him for his latest stunt mere seconds after a jury found him guilty of his first.

Walton got most of his jewelry back and says he has since changed his showroom policies and hired a security guard and is now being extra vigilant about keeping all of his cabinets closed and locked.

Franklin police recently began a walking patrol program, and it was one of those officers who just happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch Burgen.

Word of the Day

Caper
ca·per: \ˈkā-pər\
Origin: back-formation from earlier capers (taken as a plural), from Middle English caperis, from Latin capparis, from Greek kapparis
First Known Use: 14th century

Noun
1any of a genus (Capparis of the family Capparidaceae, the caper family) of low prickly shrubs of the Mediterranean region; especiall : one (C. spinosa) cultivated for its buds
2: one of the greenish flower buds or young berries of the caper pickled and used as a seasoning or garnish
3: a frolicsome leap
4: a capricious escapade : prank
5: an illegal or questionable act; especially : theft

More Vocabulary

Alleged: adj. questionably true or of a specified kind: supposed, so-called
Compelling: adj. forceful
Loot: n. something appropriated illegally often by force or violence
Mere: adj. being nothing more than

Love those Phrasal Verbs

Rip off: to steal or pilfer

• I can’t believe that my lunch was ripped off right from the cafeteria’s refrigerator.

Idioms & Phrases

Boils down to (something): to be reduced to its essentials.

• It boils down to the question of who is going to win.