How to pay a parking ticket...

[zzyzzx]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2004/12/09/fecaldollars.DTL

Shrink Rap: Smeared Bills With Poo
Thursday, December 9, 2004

BURLINGTON, Iowa -- A psychiatrist who police say smeared excrement on dollars bills used to pay a parking ticket has been fined $250.

Ronald Preston McPike, 52, of Bonaparte, was charged with harassment of a public official after officials received an envelop in July labeled "Foreign brown substance on bills." The envelope contained several dollar bills and a parking ticket made up to McPike, police said.

Tests indicated the brown substance was fecal matter that had been smeared on the bills.

McPike told police the money fell into a toilet and was retrieved to pay the $5 parking ticket, police said.

Assistant Des Moines County Attorney Heidi Van Winkle had sought the maximum $500 fine and 30 days in jail for McPike.

"Something this disgusting requires more from the court than a minimum fine. This was a snub at law enforcement officers who are just doing their job," Van Winkle said.

McPike's lawyer, Bryan Schulte, said his client had a "serious error in judgment."

"He was vexed at getting parking tickets left and right and didn't consider what he did a criminal act," Schulte said.

Associate Judge Gary Snyder said McPike demonstrated "immature behavior unbecoming a professional person."

"It's hard to put this case into perspective because people seem to get more riled up about parking tickets than anything else," Snyder said. "This is a public heath issue which shouldn't have happened."

McPike declined to comment.

[glockjs]

huh, thats kind of extreme. i just usually pay mine in rolled up penny's

[Heywould3]

huh, thats kind of extreme. i just usually pay mine in rolled up penny's

Y roll them?

[glockjs]

cause im a nice guy

[ViRaL1]

He got off easy. Defacement / destruction of US currency is a federal offense.

[thecoalman]

He got off easy. Defacement / destruction of US currency is a federal offense.

I think that's only if the intent is for fraud, counterfeiting... etc. otherwise it's legal.

[Faustus]

He got off easy. Defacement / destruction of US currency is a federal offense.

I think it used to be. But I'm pretty sure its not anymore.

[handyguy]

"Defacement / destruction of US currency is a federal offense."

Says who? We got a penny machine on Cannery Row that mashes your penny into some sort of token.

btw, there is plenty of e coli on restaurant door knobs & faucets.

[Doramius]

"Defacement / destruction of US currency is a federal offense."

Says who? We got a penny machine on Cannery Row that mashes your penny into some sort of token.

btw, there is plenty of e coli on restaurant door knobs & faucets.

Is that the one in N. Las Vegas? I heard they got a Nice Seafood buffet on Thursday nights for around $15 a head.

As for the health issue, do you know how many bills are handled each day where nobody knows where they have been. I don't go around putting dollar bills in my mouth for that reason. However, I've been known to stick some in my sock. I even had a wallet fall into a toilet (a dirty one). I fished it out with the toilet scrubber and used a baggy to remove the cash. Damned if I was going to throw out $80 just because it fell in the toilet. It's also not a federal offense on coinage, especially with pennies. But mass quantities of destruction to coinage for amusement purposes at businesses do often require some way of counting the money. Even then they can be off by as much as $5 per 10,000 pennies, $10 per 5,000 Nickles & dimes & $15 per 3,000 quarters. You can destroy a bill, but it is not required to be accepted by businesses. Banks can accept the bill as long as the entire upper right hand serial number and part of the seal can be viewed with the denomination amount. If you have a completely intact bill, but the upper right hand serial number is missing, the bank will accept it if the seal and denomination amounts are visible along with the lower left serial number being visible. There's more to it, but I wasn't a teller and I didn't read further into that banking manual when I started working for this financial institution.

[ViRaL1]

Technically it's only illegal if done with intent to defraud. It'd still probably earn you a night in jail. :P