I kind of got a laugh over this one.


http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1238202618223350.xml&coll=1

'Dumbest criminal' robs cop
Saturday, March 28, 2009
BY MATTHEW KEMENY
Of The Patriot-News
Jerome Blanchett took a loaded handgun into the Holiday Inn-Harrisburg East on Friday, passing dozens of unmarked police cars in the parking lot and a sign at the hotel's entrance welcoming 300 officers to the Pennsylvania Narcotic Officers' Association conference, police said.

Nevertheless, the 19-year-old Harrisburg man went into the men's room and waited to rob the next person who walked through the door, police said.

Unfortunately for Blanchett, that person was John Comparetto, a retired New York City Police Department lieutenant.

 "He chose to rob a cop in a place where there were 300 cops," Comparetto said afterward. "He's not very bright."

Comparetto said he walked into the bathroom about 8:15 a.m. and noticed a man in baggy blue jeans and a dark coat washing his hands. Comparetto went into the stall, and when he walked out three minutes later, he was staring down the barrel of a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun, he said.

Blanchett demanded money, and Comparetto handed over $138, police said. Blanchett took Comparetto's cell phone, told him to drop his pants and threatened to kill him if he tried to follow him, police said.

Seconds after Blanchett left the bathroom, Comparetto pulled a handgun from his ankle holster and went after his attacker, he said. Their guns drawn, he and other officers took Blanchett into custody as he was trying to get into a taxi outside the Swatara Twp. hotel.

"He's yelling, 'Don't shoot me,' and I said, 'If you move your hands, I'll kill you,'" Comparetto said. "He was almost crying."

Blanchett, who is awaiting trial on four previous robbery charges, was arraigned before District Judge Michael Smith on new robbery charges along with charges of making terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, simple assault, carrying a firearm without a license and illegally possessing a firearm. He was taken to Dauphin County Prison.

"You're a danger to have on the street," Smith told Blanchett before setting bail at $1 million.

When a reporter asked Blanchett for comment as he was led out of court, he said, "I'm smooth." When asked if he could explain that, Blanchett smirked and said nothing.

Contacted later, his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Eric Delp, would not comment.

Blanchett had been out on bail since March 6 after Delp won a hearing on speedy trial rules, which require the prosecution to bring the case to trial within 180 days if the defendant is incarcerated.

 He was being supervised by Dauphin County Pretrial Services. His trial on the previous robbery charges is slated to begin Monday.

Comparetto, 56, retired from the New York police in 1999 and was the chief of the Passaic County Sheriff's Department in northern New Jersey before retiring from there in August. He works part time for the Rockland County, N.Y., Sheriff's Department, about 30 miles north of New York City.

He had been at the conference since Wednesday and earlier in the week led a lecture on risk assessment and conducting raids –– not knowing he'd later have to put those lessons to use in the men's room.

"I knew I could take away the gun, but I hurt my back a few years ago," Comparetto said. "I'm too old to be fighting people. So I made an assessment that I would cooperate and worry about this afterward."

He was not shy about sharing his story with the media.

"This should make all Pennsylvania news as the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania."

No, you're really not.

Dupe

Terrorist threats?  wtf is that, that one seems most troubling to me.  Probably another one of those vaguely worded laws open to interpretation that you could be charged with...which then labels you as a terrorist.

Bah!  Sorry!

I know Mike... fairly well we grew up together... his younger brother and I were good friends.  I can tell you now, last person I would expect to be a judge...LOL