Police, Theft | featured news

An Illinois man accused of stealing 21 tons of Wisconsin cheese has been arrested in New Jersey. New Jersey authorities say Veniamin Konstantinovich Balika, 34, from south suburban Plainfield was arrested Tuesday afternoon. New Jersey State Police Lt. Stephen Jones said Wednesday the man was driving a refrigerated truck carrying 42,000 pounds of Muenster cheese.

Fire up the griddle! Much of a huge cache of maple syrup snatched from a Quebec storage facility has been recovered, police say. Three people have been arrested and five others are being sought in connection with the theft from a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Quebec Provincial Police said in a statement Tuesday. The theft occurred between August 2011 and July 2012, police said.

A passing motorist found a body in the trunk of a car parked in a ditch in northeast Houston, Texas, The Houston Chronicle reported.

A woman disguised in scrubs was caught trying to steal a newborn girl from a Southern California hospital in a tote bag after sensors attached to the baby alerted employees, Garden Grove police said.

A Dallas man told police that his neighbor punched him in the face Tuesday while he mowed his lawn then stole six gold teeth that he knocked out. The attack happened about 3:30 p.m. in the 3800 block of Cauthorn Drive, near Hatcher Street and Second Avenue in South Dallas. The neighbor, who was not identified, confronted the 46-year-old victim yelling and cursing as he mowed, according to a police report.

Forget snakes on a plane -- a Mesa man was arrested for having snakes down his pants, the Arizona Republic reported Wednesday. Eric Fiegel, 22, was picked up on theft charges Tuesday after police said he was caught on video stuffing an albino boa constrictor and several other exotic reptiles down his pants at Predator's Reptile Center on July 30, the paper reported.

Judge Stephen G. Milliken was waiting at the Gallery Place Metro station for a train Thursday morning when a youth snacked his iPhone from his hand. The D.C. Superior Court judge isn’t alone in having his electronic device stolen. Metro Transit Police said they’ve seen a spike in “snatch-and-grab” robberies of iPhones and similar devices. “We’ve had a great increase in the snatching of iPhones and iPads over the last couple of years, not just here but in transit systems across the country,” Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn said.

Prosecutors have decided to file charges against Lindsay Lohan following a police probe into whether the troubled actress stole a $2,500 necklace from a jewelry store, according to TMZ.com.

Massachusetts police are investigating the theft of about $15,000 worth of toys from a storage container holding donations to the "Toys for Tots" charity program, MyFoxBoston.com reports.