Story Archive

Alarming

Police in Portland, Me., responding to a burglar alarm found that a man had accidentally set off the alarm when trying to visit a friend. Ronald Podlaski, 29, who goes by the street name “RookSye”, decided to sneak into his friend’s third-storey apartment by climbing the fire escape. But he misjudged where the apartment was — he was two buildings away — and ended up in a storage area for a florist. “I realized I was in a place I wasn’t supposed to be,” he said, but by then he had set off an alarm. As he tried to leave, he fell from the fire escape onto a brick sidewalk, which is where police found him with minor injuries. When officers asked for his name, he would only say “RookSye” — and he was booked into jail under that name, charged with burglary, criminal mischief, and theft. Podlaski was apparently convincing with his “visiting a friend” story, though: prosecutors decided not to press charges. “I’m not a bad person. I’m in no way a thief,” Podlaski said. “I’m a foolish young man who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.” (RC/Portland Press-Herald) ...A 29-year-old man wants to be known by a street name? Maybe he should change it to “Obliviot”.