Buster

After being arrested for stealing a wallet that a patron mistakenly left on a Waffle House counter, Kwanita Morton reportedly confessed to the theft and gave cops an explanation for her actions.

“The money was calling to me,” Morton declared.

According to Florida police, the victim paid their Waffle House tab early Monday morning, but “forgot their wallet on the counter.” The wallet contained credit cards and $2286 in cash.

As recorded by a security camera, the 47-year-old Morton “was seen on video looking around, putting her hat on top of the victim’s wallet on the counter.” She then slid the hat and wallet into her hands “with discretion.”

Morton then “quickly leaves the establishment while her husband and child are left inside the restaurant to pay.” Morton, who works at a nursing home, lives about eight miles from the Waffle House in St. Petersburg.

Aided by the security footage, police subsequently identified Morton as the theft suspect. During questioning, police report, Morton admitted to swiping the wallet, claiming, “The money was calling to me.”

Seen above, Morton was arrested on a felony grand theft charge and booked into the county jail. She was released from custody early yesterday after posting $2000 bond.

Morton’s rap sheet includes four separate misdemeanor theft convictions.

For some unexplained reason, a wanted man was covered head-to-toe in black paint when California cops apprehended him last week.

Investigators had been looking to arrest Rufus Barron, 35, on an outstanding warrant when his mother called police to report that her son was asleep in her home in Madera, a city in central California.

When officers arrived at the residence around 1:30 AM on Tuesday, they discovered Barron, seen above, coated in black paint. Barron would not say how he came to be so covered, according to Madera Police Chief Dino Lawson.

A search of Barron turned up a glass smoking pipe containing methamphetamine. Cops suspected that Barron had been on a “meth bender” (which could have prompted the paint application).

Barron is being held in the county jail on multiple charges, including possession of a controlled substance, violating parole, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

10/17 UPDATE: Austin Smith, 20, was arrested Saturday for giving the 10-year-old a permanent tattoo. Charged with endangering the welfare of a child and a second misdemeanor, Smith was released from custody on a desk appearance ticket and is scheduled for a November 3 hearing in Town Court.

A New York woman has been arrested for allowing her 10-year-old son to get a large tattoo across his forearm, artwork that was spotted by a school employee who reported the illegal ink to law enforcement.

Police this month busted Crystal Thomas, 33, for endangering the welfare of a child. She was booked on the misdemeanor charge and released from custody on a Town Court appearance ticket.

Thomas’s son was placed in the custody of child protective services officials.

According to police, the boy was tattooed inside a room at the hotel where Thomas and her two children reside. The Ulster County hotel is about 100 miles north of New York City.

Before inking the boy, police say, the tattoo artist got permission from Thomas. The resulting tattoo--the boy’s name in “full-size block letters”--was inked across the child’s forearm, said Chief James Janso of the Town of Lloyd Police.

The tattoo is large enough that “you would need a sleeve to cover it up,” said Janso.

Officials learned of the tattoo earlier this month when the boy asked the nurse at his middle school to apply Vaseline atop the fresh ink, Janso told TSG.

Janso described the tattoo artist as a “person of interest” who could face charges including tattooing a minor and endangering the welfare of a child. The whereabouts of the male suspect are currently unknown, said Janso.

Thomas is pictured above in a photo from her Facebook page.

The motorcyclist who led cops on a high-speed chase because he was “trying to show off” for a female passenger with whom he was on a first date has pleaded guilty to a felony charge and will serve two months in jail, Florida court records show.

Taylor Beverly, a 23-year-old Tampa resident, copped Thursday to a fleeing or eluding charge in connection with the chase last year. In addition to the time behind bars, a judge suspended Beverly’s driver’s license for a year and ordered him to pay about $700 in fines and court costs.

After Beverly (seen at right) blew a red light in front of a squad car, police began chasing his 2017 Suzuki, which weaved in and out of traffic while running additional lights and traveling at “well over 100 mph,” according to an arrest affidavit.

While Beverly was fleeing, his passenger later told police, she was “screaming at him to stop, but he refused.” Referring to Beverly and the woman, a cop noted that, “This was their first date.”

Upon being apprehended at an intersection, Beverly confessed and “stated he was trying to show off for his date.”

Court records show that Beverly, who works for a roofing company, has previously been convicted of grand theft, cocaine possession, passing a bad check, and probation violation. Following a 2019 motorcycle crash, Beverly was cited for reckless driving and driving an unregistered vehicle.

Beverly was arrested in April for allegedly slapping and strangling an ex-girlfriend, but prosecutors dropped felony and misdemeanor counts after the victim “requested this case not be prosecuted,” a court filing revealed.

Incensed that his pizza did not include the requested toppings, a Maryland man allegedly assaulted a Papa John’s worker with a metal pizza paddle in an attack that ended with the employee stabbing the customer in the stomach with a “pizza spear,” according to police.

Investigators say that after purchasing a pizza Wednesday evening, Herbert Harris, 40, returned to a Papa John’s in Woodbridge, a community 20 miles outside Baltimore, to “complain that garlic sauce and pepperoncinis were not included with the pizza.”

Harris, cops say, argued about the missing Italian peppers and garlic sauce with Robert Klein, a 26-year-old Papa John’s employee. During the dispute, Harris went behind the counter and “began chasing Klein around the store, physically assaulting him with a metal pizza paddle,” according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

“Unable to escape the physical assault and in fear of his safety,” Klein “grabbed a pizza spear to defend himself from the attack, and stabbed Harris in self-defense,” investigators say. The spear is not further described in a police statement.

When cops arrived at Papa John’s, Harris, who lives two miles from the restaurant, was holding a t-shirt to a stab wound in his stomach. He was subsequently transported to a local hospital for “treatment of non-life-threatening injuries,” cops noted.

Charged with misdemeanor assault, Harris is scheduled for a September 20 District Court appearance.