Using a public power outlet to charge your phone could get you arrested
From the archive: published Jul 4, 2011, 15 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Battery life for our various gadgets pretty well sucks and keeping an eye out for handy power outlets for a quick juice up is becoming a practiced art but you might want to be careful where you plug in that recharging cord because you could end up[ finding yourself under arrest.
This is what happened to 23-year-old homeless Shawn Fawster when he was found by Bangor police powering up a couple of cellphones using an outdoor outlet.
Police have brought charges against a homeless man in Maine who they say decided to charge a couple of cellphones in an outdoor electrical outlet.A Bangor police officer checking downtown businesses says he discovered 23-year-old Shaun Fawster charging his phones in an outlet hidden behind some flowers.
Fawster was charged last weekend with theft of services, but also with carrying a concealed weapon, after the officer claimed he found a folding knife tucked underneath the homeless man’s shirt.
via CBS News
All that for what probably amounts to less than 25¢ worth of electricity. Way to go Bangor.
h/t TechnoBuffalo