Jailed for stealing remote: Craziest crimes of the week

(NEWSER) – There's a WTF flavor to this week's crazy crimes, from a man jailed over kitty litter to another who got a ticket for trying to warm up his car.

• Man gets 22 years in prison after stealing TV remote: If more than two decades in prison seems harsh for stealing a TV remote control, Eric Bramwell probably agrees. The 35-year-old Melrose Park, Ill., man was handed his fate on Wednesday by DuPage County Judge Robert Miller after being found guilty in November for stealing a remote from a Wheaton apartment complex's common area — but, based on his past criminal history, authorities in Illinois say it's a well-deserved sentence.
   
• Guy goes to jail over kitty litter mistaken for meth: A December traffic stop in Texas led to deputies discovering what they thought was nearly half a pound of methamphetamine. Houston 24-year-old Ross LeBeau was arrested and spent three days in jail ... at which time he was promptly released, and the case against him dismissed, because a forensic lab showed that the substance in question was not meth, but cat litter. Here's the odd reason he said he was keeping the kitty litter in a sock.
   
• MangGets $128 ticket for warming up car: A Michigan man is fuming after he left his car running in a driveway — and got a ticket. "Every person warms up their car," Nick Taylor says. "We live in Michigan!" Taylor, 24, left the car idling unlocked at his girlfriend's house on a frigid morning last week. When he returned a few minutes later, he spied the $128 ticket for leaving a vehicle unattended. Here's why Police Chief James Berlin says it was "purely a public safety issue." 

• Suspected bank robber leaves half his haul around city: Authorities have captured a man who allegedly robbed a New York bank of almost $110,000 — though he also allegedly left about $53,000 scattered around the city before he was caught. Police say Joseph Peeples III handed over a note at a Chase Bank in Rochester Thursday morning that said "nobody dies today" if money from the vault was handed over. He allegedly filled a bag with cash and was caught by surveillance cameras getting into a taxi; here's how he ended up leaving $10,000 in the vehicle.
   
• Authorities find fortune hidden under mattress: You'd think that much cold, hard cash would make for an uncomfortable night's sleep. A 28-year-old Brazilian man was arrested last week in Massachusetts after authorities found about $20 million hidden in a box spring. The arrest of Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha is connected to an investigation into TelexFree, an alleged pyramid scheme, and authorities say they followed Rocha to an apartment where they found the incredible amount of money under a mattress.

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