Story Archive

A Vanilla Crime

Workers with the Adams Township, Pa., road department kept finding bags of empty vanilla extract bottles in the woods. “I’ve complained about it to the police” nearby resident Greg Betant said. “And I usually get a large garbage bag and go down every year and pick up. The most I picked up at one time was 110.” So, police put a trail camera in the area. “In the same day, we got pictures of the subject throwing litter out, which was vanilla extract bottles,” said assistant police chief Robert Scanlon. An officer later saw the vehicle and pulled over Mary Ranker, 61. Police say she was drinking vanilla extract from an eight-ounce bottle, and had five more bottles in the car. By law, vanilla extract must contain at least 35 percent alcohol, and Ranker’s blood alcohol level read 0.128 percent. Police say she’s a “recovering” alcoholic who bought vanilla extract from a supermarket instead of going to a liquor store. She was arrested and charged with DUI, and littering. (MS/KDKA Pittsburgh) ...Police are also investigating a string of rum cake disappearances.