Florida man arrested for having milk crate

[ansible]

AUBURNDALE, Fla. (WFLA) – A Polk County man is behind bars after a deputy spotted him with a milk crate.

On Thursday just before 10 p.m. a PSCO deputy stopped two men on bikes. The deputy noticed that Timothy Troller, of Auburndale, had a dairy crate attached to his a purple Mongoose BMX bicycle.

The dairy crate had the business name of Sunshine State Dairy Farms clearly marked on the sides of the dairy crate. Troller claimed he found the crate on the side of the road and attached it to his bike.

Troller was arrested and charged with Possession of Dairy Crate. “I never heard of it. This is the first time ever,” Edward Hale, Troller’s grandfather said. “He didn’t know it was against the law, or he wouldn’t have put it on the front of the bicycle and rode up and down the road,” Hale said.

“You’re possessing something that is stolen from a business, whether it’s as small as a milk crate, or a shopping cart,” Polk County Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson, Carrie Horstman said. “He was charged with possessing stolen property. He may pay a fine or spend a few days in jail.”

“Deputies are actually out there proactively looking for things that don’t look right; looking for suspicious things. If they see somebody riding a bicycle at 10 o’clock at night they may have a conversation with them. They are looking for people who are doing even the smallest crime, because, what we’ve learned is, those who will go out an steal a milk crate, for example, are the same people who are probably breaking into cars, breaking into your house,” Horstman said.

http://wfla.com/2016/09/30/polk-county-man-arrested-for-having-milk-crate/

[Egnever]

1. Guess I got lucky as a kid

They did used to say on them it was illegal to have them or something to that effect. Wonder if they do now.

[bigtree]

4. lucky, indeed

...apparently you committed a gateway crime, leading you to break into cars, break into houses.

[sir pball]

6. They do..

..we have dozens at my restaurant, they all say "property of so-and-so, not returning this crate is theft" or something to that note.

And of course I've never heard of somebody getting busted for it; we've had a bunch for years. Idiotic.

[radical noodle]

2. We're in Florida

We could be in real trouble. We have both red and black milk crates.

[jberryhill]

7. Are the tags on all your mattresses?

[radical noodle]

13. I cut them off

and off the pillows too. I didn't realize they were so tough on crime here.

[Mariana]

14. All the tags on my mattresses and pillows

(some of which are still in place) say it's illegal for the seller to cut them off. The buyer apparently can do so. Whew, I was really worried about that.

[pinboy3niner]

3. I can't wait until they put prospective jurors through voir dairy

[johnp3907]

5. Ouch!

[jberryhill]

8. I thought this one would box you in

[pinboy3niner]

9. Au contraire, mon counselor

I have crate resources.

[jberryhill]

10. Like an artist working with a large pallet.

[pinboy3niner]

12. Like when I helped my friend, it was all for Cliff

Last edited Sun Oct 2, 2016, 03:52 AM - Edit history (1)

ETA: In case it's too subtle, think forklift.

[malaise]

25. ROFL

Good morning

[Warren DeMontague]

11. I really thought you wrote the headline in a hurry, and it was "having sex with milk crate"

May spend a few days in jail. That's a productive use of the criminal justice system.

Florida must just have buckets of extra taxpayer dollars, laying around to burn, the way they're paying to lock up pot smokers for 2-3 years at a time, shit like that.

[pinboy3niner]

15. Hey, don't knock having sex with milk crates

Like you've never been moo-curious. You can milk your disapproval all you want but it's udder nonsense.

[Warren DeMontague]

22. are you suggesting I might do something

unholstein?

[pinboy3niner]

24. Well the last time, you stepped in the cow patties

I'd tell you to avoid that in future but you know I'm not Bossie.

[bermudat]

16. Was he black?

[LisaL]

17. No.

[pinboy3niner]

18. The cops were in a foul mooood

And they're probably homogenized-phobic as well.

[jmowreader]

19. They have some seriously bored cops down there

They actually HAULED SOMEONE IN for stealing a milk crate? Isn't that what tickets are for?

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. It is illegal to keep.those post office plastic translucent boxes. Usps bought a gazillion

They disappear. People keep em

[pinboy3niner]

21. Don't even get me started on shopping carts

[Warren DeMontague]

23. I'm sorry sir

you can't park that here

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. Heard a news clip on shopping cart borrowing.. they cost $200 each

[klook]

26. Now that they've impounded the bike,

the poor guy has to hoof it.

[smirkymonkey]

27. Well, thank god the cops are keeping busy keeping us all safe from the

dreaded milk crate thieves. I mean, it's not like there is any real crime out there to be bothered with.

[anoNY42]

28. I nominate this cop

to be this week's "Florida Man".

[GulfCoast66]

29. He should not have been out

So lait.

[dubyadiprecession]

30. My truck was stolen over a decade ago and law enforcement still doesn't have a clue...

who came through the area and stole it.

The real criminals are several steps ahead of all of these overly paid police officers and detectives!

[Igel]

31. In big cities news sources that look at economic issues

some times run stories on crimes in which what's stolen is often seen by the public as free stuff.

Milk crates. (http://www.milkcratesdirect.com/blog/why-all-the-fuss-over-milk-crate-possession.html)

Pallets. (http://abc13.com/news/whos-stealing-plastic-pallets-around-houston/63606/)

When it's your stuff being stolen, it's a big deal. But when it's somebody else's, esp. when that somebody owns what amounts to the landscape--stores, for example--it's okay.

Take $5 from me, it's serious. Take $5 from that rich guy whose store charges more than I think things are worse, good, and if $5 gets stolen from him 5 times a day for the entire year from the person I think doesn't deserve protection as a citizen, what's that got to do with me? I care about people, not the rich.

Meh. So much for empathy as a value.

Even the warehouse store near where I live used to have bins for disposing of cardboard boxes. Now they don't--they bundle them up and sell them to recyclers.

Now, this may strike you as petty. But look at it this way: All those boxes would go to landfill if individuals took them home, so this is better for the environment. (Many will argue that it's still wrong, because somehow somebody with money makes money and because it's harder on common folk. I keep milk crates in my trunk for carrying stuff in. Of course, they're commercially available purchased-by-me milk crates, because theft isn't wrong just when I'm the victim.)