AGING BURGLAR RIPS OFF HIS OWN HOME BY MISTAKE
... then calls the cops when he thinks someone else robbed his house!
Must Read News
George Fingle
Talk about poetic justice: A blind professional burglar inadvertently robbed his own home!
Career criminal Jack Penning, 66, suffers from macular degeneration and had recently become legally blind, according to authorities in Perth, Australia.
"The man's a real-life Mr. Magoo," says a police spokesman.
"Mr. Penning snuck around to the rear of the luxury apartment complex where he resides and entered through the second-story window of what he thought was a neighbor's apartment in Building No. 4 -- but was in actuality his own dwelling in Building No. 3.
"All the apartments are laid out the same way and as he hurriedly ripped off the stereo, TV and approximately $180 in cash from the entertainment center, he was unable to recognize it as his own."
After gleefully selling his "booty" to a fence, Penning returned home -- and soon after entering the front door, realized his belongings were missing and called the police.
"After following footprints outside the back window, it didn't take investigators long to figure out what happened," the spokesman said.
Penning was initially arrested for burglary, but charges against the blind-as-a-bat felon were later dropped by a judge who cited English common law that makes it "impossible for a man to steal his own property."
The bungled heist, which took place in broad daylight, was a far cry from the exploits of Penning's younger days. In his heyday in the 1970s through the mid-1990s when he was known as "The Cat," he is believed to have committed as many as 600 successful burglaries.
But since his eyesight began to fail earlier this year, it's been all downhill.
"I know my eyes aren't what they used to be. My daughter has been telling me to retire," he said, explaining his actions in court.
"I thought I would do O.K. if I kept it simple and tried a job right there in the complex instead of trying to drive across town. But I must have counted the buildings wrong and then once I got in, everything was a blur."
When cops first accused Penning of robbing himself, he denied it. "I knew they were going to have a big laugh at my expense as soon as I admitted it -- and they certainly did," he told the judge.
The judge admonished the oldster for his behavior and advised him to seek honest employment.
"I feel like a real idiot!"
