This Week's Most Ratchet Crimes in America

Image via Complex Original

Date: 10/08/2014

Location: Oconto County, Wisconsin

Crime: Lewd and lascivious conduct, Drunk driving and Disorderly conduct

Ratchet Meter: 10

Authorities in Wisconsin say a couple began having sex in the back of a police car shortly after being arrested.

The Smoking Gun reports that 29-year-old Heather Basten and 33-year-old Travis Husnik were arrested on Aug. 3 after deputies with the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department suspected Basten of driving while intoxicated. Both she and Husnik admitted that to drinking, and two open beer cans were spotted on the floor of the vehicle.

To further complicate matters, Husnik was on probation, and a syringe which Basten admitted she used for meth was discovered inside of her purse. The fact that she was driving without a license in the cherry on top of this fucking mess.

As they were being escorted to jail, a deputy noticed the couple laid out in the backseat of the police cruiser, with Basten's legs touching the ceiling while she moaned—“loudly.” The deputy opened the vehicle's door, getting visual confirmation that Basten and Husnik were having sex.

Husnik was charged with lewd and lascivious conduct, while Basten was hit with disorderly conduct and drunk driving charges.

[via The Smoking Gun]

Date: 10/08/2014

Location: Arizona

Crime: Murder

Ratchet Meter: 5

Well this is the most terrifying thing ever. A couple of Arizona landscapers were working on a home when a swarm of 800,000 bees escaped the attic and began attacking them. One of the men was killed, and the other is in the hospital in critical condition.

A beekeeper came afterward to exterminate the bees and had to remove a portion of the roof in the process. The expert also determined that the hive, which filled a 55-gallon drum, had been growing for at least 10 years.

[via Gawker]

Date: 10/08/2014

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Crime: Defamation of Character

Ratchet Meter: 7

Imagine your flight got delayed four hours because some passengers were joking about the pilot being drunk. You'd probably be annoyed, and if you're an active Twitter user, there's no doubt you would throw some shade via tweets at the airline.

Or maybe don't do that? That's the lesson learned by New Hampshire's own Lisa Carter-Knight, who dared to Tweet her anguish about her JetBlue flight from Philadelphia to Boston being delayed, with all the passengers made to leave the plane, all because the flight's pilot had to undergo a sobriety test due to a joking passenger asking if he had just been at the bar.

JetBlue, showing an intensity and no-f**ks-given attitude usually reserved for dictators who rule with an iron fist, refused to let Carter-Knight back on the flight when it boarded again, refunding her but refusing to rebook her on another flight. Whoops. Carter-Knight was rightfully pissed, complaining that the airline had denied her a flight home to her three children.

Check out the full story in the video above, including JetBlue's “tough sh*t” response.

Date: 10/08/2014

Location: United States of America

Crime: Terrible Customer Service, Price Gouging

Ratchet Meter: 6

Comcast has long been recognized as one of the shittiest companies operating here on planet Earth. With a track record that includes choking customers' Internet speeds, some of the worst customer service ever offered, and price gouging whenever possible, Comcast operates with a similar business approach as the Sinaloa Cartel in Central Mexico.

The telecom giant has normally resigned itself to only F-ing people over online, but it seems that now they've begun behaving like a jilted middle-schooler. Comcast, may, have just reached through the Internets and gotten a guy fired IRL. His infraction? Complaining about Comcast's horrible, horrible service. Check out the video to get the full story on just how powerful Comcast may actually be.

Date: 10/08/2014

Location: New York, New York

Crime: Theft

Ratchet Meter: 8

Amanda Bynes finds herself in headlines again. Following news that the actress was kicked out from the Fashion Institute of Merchandising and Design and is now engaged to a 19-year-old, TMZ is now reporting that Bynes was allegedly caught by security trying to steal merchandise from Barneys.

According to TMZ's sources, Bynes was seized by security guards at the luxury retailer's Madison Avenue location in New York City after she tried to walk out with a $200 hat she didn't pay for. Witnesses said that Bynes was “acting crazy” after she was brought back into the store by the police.

TMZ also cites sources who said that the actress told the security that she had no intention of stealing and was merely trying to cover her face with the hat after being chased by fans inside Barneys.

Bynes was let go by the police and asked by Barneys to sign a no-trespass agreement, banning her from ever going back to the store. She has yet to comment on the incident (or tweet about it).

[via TMZ]

Date: 10/04/2014

Location: Detroit, Michigan

Crime: Murder

Ratchet Meter: 4

A woman was killed during a mass-shooting in Detroit for refusing to give a man her phone number, authorities say.

Fox Detroit reports that Mary “Unique” Spears, 27, was murdered on Saturday after leaving a family member's funeral. Friends and family had gathered at the Joe Louis Post on the city's east side, when the 38-year-old man approached Spears. Although she told him that she had a fiancee who was in attendance, the man continued to pester Spears until he ultimately grabbed and struck her.

A fight broke out when her fiancee intervened, and the suspect began shooting, striking Spears three times, including two shots to the head. The Detroit Free Press adds that three women and two men—including Spears' fiancee—were injured in the shooting, as well.

According to Fox Detroit, the gunman was arrested and charged with murder.

[via Fox Detroit]

Date: 10/08/2014

Location: Toledo, Ohio

Crime: Child abuse

Ratchet Meter: 7

An Ohio man was arrested on Monday for punching a baby in frustration shortly after sleeping with the child's mother.

The Smoking Gun reports that 24-year-old Markeese Cummings had sex with Simone Day, 20, at her Toledo apartment yesterday. When the baby began crying, Cummings took the child downstairs to get a beverage, where she continued to cry for her mother.

That's when police say Cummings grew irate, allegedly punching the child on the side of her face. The extent of the child's inquiries are not mentioned, but the criminal complaint states that the blow caused “serious harm.” Cummings was charged with battery and taken to Lucas County Jail.

[via The Smoking Gun]

Date: 10/08/2014

Location: Memphis, Tennessee

Crime: Accidental tweeting

Ratchet Meter: 6

Thanks to WREG in Memphis, Tenn., you’ll never look at the name #Rockbone the same ever again. OK, so you probably weren’t looking at #Rockbone that much to begin with. But still.

That’s because this morning, with thunderstorms peppering the greater Memphis area, the news station sent out the above tweet with a link to a Pornhub profile. It was deleted hastily, but the Internet never forgets.

The station was quick to apologize for the miscue: The lesson to be learned here: be careful about which tabs you keep open on your web browser, and with how you use the “ctrl + C” function. You never know when you’re going to accidentally share what you do in your private time with the world.

(via Mashable)

Date: 10/08/204

Location: Selbyville, Delware

Crime: not felony possession 

Ratchet Meter: 5

As a four-year-old girl in Selbyville, Del. headed off to day care on Monday, her mother Ashley Tull, 30, gave her a different backpack to use since the family pet had ruined hers the night before. Just imagine the little girl's delight upon opening the backpack and finding a treasure trove of bags containing what looked like candy. What am I going to do with all this candy, the little girl presumably asked herself, before handing the bags out to her then giddy classmates.

A nice story about a kid hitting the sweet tooth jackpot and embodying the oft-repeated day care phrase, “Sharing is caring,” right? Not quite. It wasn't powdered sugar in those 249 little baggies—it was a total 3.375 grams of heroin.

“None of the packets were opened by any of the kids,” Master Corporal Gary E. Fournier told The News Journal. Ashley Tull was taken into custody by police but was not charged with felony possession, despite the fact that the amount would have been sufficient. The four-year-old girl on the other hand, went from being considered the coolest girl at day care to the least trustworthy.

[via The News Journal]