There have been some interesting stories making the rounds in the news again and it's been a while since I shared some so without further delay, here are some not so bright criminals and con artists which continues to prove that crime doesn't pay, although it might make the police laugh once in a while:

We begin in the town of Iowa City where Daniel P. Noehl decided to start a new sideline business selling prescription medicine to anyone who would want to buy it. He supposedly made a deal with someone he thought was a friend to sell three bottles full of pills.The arrangement was made and Noehl sat back to wait for the money to roll in, but he learned the hard way that you just cannot trust a fellow criminal. Perhaps he should have held the guy's driver's license but unfortunately with no collateral, his buddy skipped on him with the goods and left Noehl with no money. Realizing he was conned, Noehl did what any fledgling business man in the drug trade would do. He called the police.Not only did he call the police, but when they did not show up fast enough for his taste, he called three more times to complain. Finally, the police gave him the attention he so much craved and stopped by to arrest him. When they arrived to arrest him, but he admitted to using other drugs as well. When asked what he planned to do with the drug deal's proceeds, Noehl told them he was going to buy cigarettes and groceries.The Huffington Post reported that Noehl isn't the only drug dealer to use the police to attempt to do their enforcement work. In nearby Tennessee, a man named Morgan Tapp reported a home invasion in which his safe was stolen. When the police came to investigate, they discovered the vault was the only missing item from the house. Fortunately it did not take a very long time for the officers to find the safe and call Tapp.The news story doesn't say how long it took for the man to come and claim his safe, but while they were waiting, a K-9 dog apparently smelled something quite familiar in the safe and let his handler know about it.When the alleged victim arrived, police asked if they could open his safe, and this is the part that still makes me laugh. The so-called victim said "yes" and allowed the officers access to the unit. Inside was a pay date for police as they discovered a half-pound of marijuana, bags, pills and almost $1,000 in cash which Tapp admitted were his drug dealing supplies. He is waiting to be tried on felony possession charges.Between Noehl and Tapp, I guess it goes to show that when you are committing a crime that doesn't go your way, having the police intercede on your behalf isn't a great idea if you are planning to stay free. These two jokers are learning this the hard way.More and more of us are finding the heating season difficult to deal with due to rising costs. One man thought he found the solution when he used the fuel he grew. The problem is the fuel was not lumber, it was marijuana and for some reason Illinois man Daniel Selmon thought it would be a good idea to stay warm by burning his lucrative product. He thought it was a good idea, I'm sure until the police showed up to explain to him that burning marijuana is a crime and that he was under arrest for his illegal bonfire.Believe it or not, there are some people dumber than those who call the police to help them when a crime goes bad. Once in a while the criminals don't need to wait for the police to come for them, some of them go to the officers. That's the case in New Hampshire when Ilyass Nabih and Thony Sengsoulya decided they needed a fix immediately so they pulled over in a parking lot outside of the Lawrence Police Department and decided to use heroin. I guess they figured police officers would never look out the window to spot them using illegal narcotics in station lot. Joke was on them as now both men are charged with possession.Last but not least in this week's installment of dumb criminals is a piece of advice. If you are going to use social media, perhaps it is not the smartest idea to post a photograph of yourself committing a crime on the pages of Facebook especially if the crime is against a police department.A man named Michael Baker decided to help himself to some gasoline courtesy of the local police department. He decided to share the news with his friends by posting a photograph of himself in the act of siphoning gasoline from the Kentucky department's cruiser. Police charged him with theft by unlawful taking.Perhaps the lesson to learn from our quartet of less than bright criminals is if you are planning to break the law, it probably isn't a smart idea to post it in social media sites or call the cops to be your enforcer. It would most likely backfire.Til Next time….