Dumb Crime Doesn't Pay

When two regular guys found a cache of antique banknotes buried in Methuen on Monday, Bostonist predicted that a visit to the courts would be in their future. Who would have guessed it would happen so soon?

Barry Billcliff and Tim Crebase were arrested this morning on larceny and related charges after police determined that they fabricated the discovery, having actually taken the currency from a house where they were doing roofing work. Apparently, the two criminal masterminds came up with the gist of the story without bothering to nail down the details, prompting the Methuen police chief to say that hearing their conflicting accounts was "like watching a car accident." Ouch. To add insult to injury, the Globe story about their arrest is accompanied by a photograph in which they look really dumb.

Bostonist thought we were being very clever when we bothered to look up the relevant state law and report that Crebase could keep the loot if the rightful owner didn't show up within a year, since the money was found on his property. It seems we weren't that clever, since Crebase appears to have looked up the law as well. For what it's worth, we know something about criminal law that Crebase and Billcliff probably don't: in Massachusetts, stupidity is very rarely a valid legal defense.

Photo courtesy of flickr.com / user: Sgt Rock