GRAND THEFT AVOCADO: 3 HElD IN $300K CAlIFORNIA THEFT
Police are calling it grand theft avocado. Three produce company workers have been arrested in the theft of up to $300,000 worth of avocados, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
Thirty-eight-year-old Joseph Valenzuela, 28-year-old Carlos Chavez and 30-year-old Rahim leblanc were each charged with grand theft of fruit and were being held in jail on bail of $250,000 each. They were arrested Wednesday.
It was unclear whether they have attorneys. Detectives began investigating the suspects in May after receiving a tip that they were conducting unauthorized cash sales of avocados from a ripening facility in the city of Oxnard owned by the Mission Produce company. The company estimated the avocado loss at about $300,000, the sheriff’s office said. “We take these kinds of thefts seriously. It’s a big product here and in California,” sheriff’s Sgt. John Franchi told the los Angeles Times. “Everybody loves avocados.”
(AP)
132-YEAR-OlD lOBSTER RElEASED AFTER 20 YRS
A massive 132-year-old lobster named “louie” was set free after spending 20 years at a New York restaurant.
Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony J. Santino on Friday shared photos of the moment he and Butch Yamali of Peter’s Clam Bar “pardoned” louie and released the 22-pound lobster back into the sea.
“Don’t be shellfish. Help the Town of Hempstead protect our wildlife. This National lobster Month we set free 22-pound, 132-year-old louie the lobster at Peter’s Clam Bar so he could live back,” a post on Santino’s official Facebook page stated.
Yamali, owner of the clam bar, said a customer came in asking to purchase louie last week, but he refused to sell the lobster who, he said, had become “like a pet” and was ready to return to its home, the New York Post reported.
“louie has been here about 20 years, he looks ready to go,” he said.
The elderly lobster had been at the restaurant for more than a decade when Yamali purchased the establishment four years ago and received a fitting send off as residents and town officials gathered to watch him return to his home in the ocean.
“Today I’m announcing an official pardon for louie the lobster,” Santino said. “louie may have faced a buttery fate on a seafood lover’s plate, but today we are here to return louie to a life that is better down where it’s wetter.”
An expert said louie will likely survive despite spending much of his life in captivity and having lost a claw, due to a lack of natural predators.
(UPI)
DElI SIGN ASKS CUSTOMERS NOT TO TAlK ABOUT MATHS
A Pennsylvania math professor shared a photo of an unusual sign at her local deli: “Please refrain from discussing mathematics while waiting in line.” Anna Haensch, professor of mathematics at Duquesne University, tweeted a photo she snapped while waiting near checkout at an unidentified deli in Pittsburgh.
“Please refrain from discussing mathematics while waiting in line,” the sign reads. “At the local deli. What could have happened to make them put up that signIJIJ” Haensch tweeted.
Twitter users were quick to step in with their pun-filled theories: “Perhaps they thought those conversations were getting too irrationalIJ” @ScottUWEC quipped. “Some of them got downright complex,” @tadmanter added.
“You’ve gotta ask!!! I’m imagining fisticuffs over fibonaci or something like that,” @maiasz theorized. Twitter user @patrickray1969 had a complaint about the accuracy of the sign: “Technically it’s a line SEGMENT.”
(UPI)
AN $80 KIM JONG UN MAlE ROMPER!
An online retailer is offering a male romper featuring a close-up photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s face. The bizarre garment for sale by Getonfleek clothing is covered entirely with a print showing the eyes, nose and mouth of a smiling Kim.
“Our Kim Jong Un Romper for men is the perfect all over print mens romper, made with premium double sided sublimation,” the item description states.
The male romper is available for pre-order on the site at a discounted price of $79.99 and is expected to begin shipping within the United States and worldwide in mid-July.
Men’s rompers became a viral sensation in May when Chicago-based ACED Design raised $45,067 to crowdfund its “Romphim” line of the one-piece garments, which the group promised would “revolutionize” men’s fashion.
Getonfleek offers a variety of other prints for its male rompers including a close-up photo of a batch of fried chicken, a print inspired by a “jazzy 90s paper cup” and an image of a “cool pineapple.”
(UPI)