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Sometimes it is just unbelievable how dumb some criminals can be. I know most of them are not rocket scientists, but some of the mistakes they make are truly monumental

Names have been changed in the following story to protect the juvenile. Big Louie was only 15 years old, but he had already decided to embark on a life of crime. He figured out that holding someone hostage and collecting a ransom would be a good gig. Who would be the most profitable to hold hostage? He decided that doctors make a lot of money, so he would break into a doctor's house and hold his wife hostage. Now big louie wasn't called big for nothing. At 15 he had a hulking 6 foot 5 inch frame with the weight to back it up. The doctor he decided to try his dirty deed on was quite diminutive being about 5 foot 7 inches in height and weighing all of about 135 pounds. He broke into the doctor's house and grabbed his wife and waited for the doctor to come home. When he heard him coming, he put a knife to her throat and when the doctor entered he demanded $10,000. The doctor pleaded with him but he would have none of it. Finally the doctor told him he just didn't have that much money in the house. Big Louie thought for a second, what was he to do? The doctor told him that he could go out to the bank and cash a check for the money and come right back. Louie thought this was a good idea and let him go. The doctor went directly to the police and Big Louie was captured.

Another criminal made his living by throwing bricks through jewelry store windows and scooping up the contents and then making a fast getaway before anyone could catch him. One thing he should have done was make sure that all the windows he threw bricks at were glass. The last one he threw the brick at was plexiglas. The brick came flying back and hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious. He was an easy arrest for the police that arrived a few minutes later.

A woman went to her son's boy scout meeting where the police were going to demonstrate how their drug sniffing dog can find drugs. The dog found a bag of drugs in her purse.

A man in a motor home called the police when he heard strange sounds outside his vehicle. It sounded like someone trying to siphon gas from it. When the police arrived there was a man outside laying on the ground and vomiting. He had done the usual siphon procedure of sticking the hose in the tank and sucking on it until he got a mouth full of gas to start the siphon The problem was that he stuck the hose in the wrong tank, it was the sewage tank and you can guess what he got a mouthful of.

Two car thieves stole a car from a service station. They were arrested about one hour later when they went back to the service station to fill it up with gas.

A man in Sweden had robbed a bank in the town and then drove his car to another area and got out and ran away on foot. The robber didn't know it, but he had abandoned the car right next to a police dog training area. The dogs tracked him down and he was arrested immediately.

A man in Ohio decided to rob the local Dairy Mart. He went in and threatened the clerk with an eight inch butcher knife. The clerk recognized him right away because he worked in the store next to the Dairy Mart. He was arrested immediately since the local police station was right across the street and the police saw the whole thing.

A man was arrested for trying to rob a bank. He didn't have a weapon but used his thumb and finger in a coat pocket to make believe he had a gun. The trouble was he got so excited during the robbery he took his hand out of his pocket and was jumped.

Two men decided to pull the front off a cash machine by tying a chain around a truck bumper and the front of the machine. They reved up the truck and pulled. The front of the machine didn't budge, but the bumper of the truck came off. The two frightened robbers sped away. It seems that they were very easy to catch because the front bumper contained their front license plate.

A 47 year old woman called a company named "Guns For Hire" and asked them to kill her husband. Here is where the problem come in, the company is in the business of staging gunfights for westerns.

A man was sent a speeding ticket for $40.00 and a photo of his car with the speed he was traveling printed under it by the police where the speed trap was located. He then sent them a picture of $40.00 Several days later he received another mailing from the police, this one contained a photo of a pair of handcuffs.

There are just so many dumb criminal acts, so many that I could fill my entire website with them if I wanted to. I don't know how many stories there are about criminals who's guns didn't fire so they looked down the barrel while pulling the trigger. There are also tons of stories about people robbing places and not realizing that cameras there were photographing them. But I will finish this article with one of the dumbest stories of them all.

A man with a mask goes into a liquor store and points a gun at the clerk and tells him to empty the register of cash and put all the cash into a bag that he brought with him. As this is going on, the robber looks around and sees a bottle of booze he would like to have and tells the clerk to put it into the bag too. The clerk responds with a loud NO. The robber say why not? The clerk says he doesn't believe the robber is 18 years old or older. The robber insists he is. The clerk replies he can't put the bottle in the bag until the robber proves he is of age. The robber pulls out his wallet and shows his driver's license to the clerk to prove his age. He gets the bottle and the police get the robber.