One of the state’s slogans is “You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania.” But we don’t recommend making friends with these guys.
What’s Your Cell Phone Worth?
Dim-Witted Criminal: Randy-Jay Adolphos Jones (a.k.a. Baby Boy) of Columbia, Pennsylvania
Dumb Move: Answering the phone
The Crime: In October 2007, an unnamed woman was sitting in her car in Lancaster when “Baby Boy” allegedly got in the car, grabbed, and fondled her. She fought back and got away, but as she escaped, he snatched her handbag, which had her cell phone inside.
Shortly after the attack, Officer Jeff Gerhart arrived at the scene and asked the victim to call her phone. Jones answered and demanded a $185,000 ransom for the phone’s safe return. The woman refused but haggled him down to $200. They agreed to meet at Franklin and Marshall College to make the trade. Officers apprehended Baby Boy (and the cell phone) there. The handbag was also nearby.
The Punishment: Jones was booked for robbery and indecent assault on $100,000 bail and is awaiting trial.
One-of-a-Kind Getaway Car
Dim-Witted Criminals: Robert Coulson Lavery and Robert Steven Miller of Fairview Township, Pennsylvania
Dumb Move: Leaving a trail
The Crime: Two things were wrong with this pair’s plan to rob the New Cumberland Federal Credit Union in Fairview Township in November 2006. For one, Lavery smeared chalky drywall compound (also known as joint compound) on his face before entering the bank. It worked well as a disguise but left a trail wherever he went. Second, Lavery’s getaway driver, Miller, did a poor job of going incognito. He drove a black Chevy Malibu with a souvenir Rusty Wallace NASCAR plate on the front. In a city with less than 15,000 people, it was the only one of its kind.
When police asked for help in identifying the vehicle, a local resident easily recognized the car and led them to Miller. The robber immediately ratted out his accomplice, who was hiding at Miller’s house with $3,775 of the stolen $7,910 . . . and the clothes and car smeared with drywall compound.
The Punishment: Both were convicted of robbery and theft.
Taking Out the Trash
Dim-Witted Criminal: Malcolm Kysor of Albion, Pennsylvania
Dumb Move: Bragging
The Crime: Fifty-four-year-old Kysor escaped from a medium-security prison in Albion in November 2007. He’d been serving a life sentence for beating an Erie County man to death with a golf club in 1981, but one day, he simply climbed into a trash can meant for food scraps and rode out of prison in a garbage truck. (Workers neglected to inspect the truck before it departed, resulting in the prison’s superintendent later being removed from her position.)
Kysor evaded capture for four months, but then, while he was living in a park in Bakersfield, California, his story was featured on the TV show America’s Most Wanted. Kysor couldn’t help bragging about this to his fellow transients, and a law-abiding citizen overheard and reported him immediately. When questioned, Kysor gave police an alias . . . one he’d used before and that was already in a national database.
The Punishment: He was extradited to Pennsylvania to serve the rest of his life sentence, plus whatever time he’ll receive for the felony escape charge, which carries a maximum of seven years. And since his trash-can maneuver was caught on a prison surveillance tape, it is unlikely that he’ll dodge that charge.
Did You Know?
One of the most prominent environmentalists in U.S. history got his start in Pennsylvania. Richard Pough was born in New York, but moved to Pennsylvania in the 1930s to attend Haverford College. He became a photographer and opened a camera shop in Philadelphia. While living there, Pough learned that the state paid hunters $5 for every hawk they killed. (Hawks and other raptors threatened farm animals.) Pough also learned about Hawk Mountain, an area in Berks County where hawks were being killed by the dozens daily. Camera in hand, he went to investigate and was appalled to find hundreds of dead hawks. The pictures he took of the slaughter were published in a local paper and inspired a philanthropist named Rosalie Edge to buy the property and turn it into the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a safe haven for birds of prey. Pough also continued his environmental activism: he wrote books for the National Audubon Society and became the first president of the Nature Conservancy.