Lottery hoax causes riot at Ohio coat store reported by Meghan Barr

Oct 14, 9:09 PM (ET)

By MEGHAN BARR

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A woman being driven around in a rented limousine pulled up at a coat store and announced she'd won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases, police said, but she ended up causing a riot when customers realized it was a hoax.

Angry customers threw merchandise around and looted, leaving the store looking as though a hurricane had passed through it, police said.

Linda Brown was arrested Tuesday after an hours-long shopping spree that began when she hired a stretch Hummer limousine to drop her off at a Burlington Coat Factory store, police Sgt. Lt. Michael Deakins said. Brown walked to a cash register and loudly announced she had won the lottery and would pay for each person's merchandise up to $500, he said.

"Well, of course, people like to hear that," Deakins said. "Apparently they were in line calling relatives who were not at the store and told them to come."

People flooded the registers as cashiers began ringing up purchase after purchase, but Brown had not yet paid the bill, Deakins said. At least 500 people filled the aisles and another 1,000 were outside trying to get in, he said.

"She was telling people she won $1.5 million," Deakins said. "But it ends up she didn't win anything. She had no money to pay for anything."

About an hour later, Brown had the limousine driver take her to a bank to withdraw money, but she returned empty-handed, police Detective Steven Nace said. By then, store employees had called in two dozen police officers to handle the crowds.

Shopper Candace Jordan said she told Brown she didn't need clothes, she needed help paying her rent.

"And she said, 'How much is it?'" Jordan told WBNS-TV. "And she promptly wrote out a check."

By the time employees realized Brown didn't have any cash to pay, police said, she already had taken off in the limo.

That's when angry customers, realizing they weren't getting free coats, began throwing merchandise on the floor and grabbing clothes without paying for them, Nace said.

"Everybody was like, 'I still want my free stuff,' and that started the riot," he said. "It looks like (Hurricane) Katrina went through the store."

Police said they have no way of tracking down the customers who stole items and fled, but they're reviewing surveillance video.

When the limousine driver realized he wasn't going to be paid the $900 Brown owed him for the day's rental, he turned her in to police, Deakins said.

Brown, 44, was arrested on three outstanding warrants for aggravated menacing, misuse of a 911 system and causing false alarms. She was jailed late Wednesday, but no charges had been filed against her related to the coat store chaos pending a mental health evaluation.

Police said they didn't know if Brown had a lawyer. No telephone number was listed under her name, and no one answered repeated phone calls at the Franklin County Jail.

A spokeswoman for Burlington Coat Factory, which is based in Burlington, N.J., and has more than 300 stores across the country, said late Wednesday she couldn't comment on the incident.

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Passport too hard to get

My father-in-law would like to go along to Canada with my husband and me next spring to visit his grandson and his great-grandchildren. I called the post office to set up an appointment for him to get a passport. It is not simple to do this, as I found out. My father-in-law is 87 years old, and one of 14 children. He has never had a birth certificate. He was in the service, has a driver's license and a Social Security number. For my father-in-law to prove who he is seems ludicrous. We had to get two birth affidavits and get two of his brothers to state in writing and swear with their right hand up that he is a U.S. citizen.

When the person who handles passports at the post office told me all that my father-in-law needs to do to go into Canada, I was flabbergasted. People of America, something does not seem right. The President of the United States does not have to show any birth certificate, but an 87-year-old needs proof of who he is. What is wrong with this picture?

BEVERLY J. ROBINSON
WINDSOR TOWNSHIP

Letter to Editor, York Daily Record 09/28/09. Mrs. Robinson is a faithful member of my home church.

A modern day hero

Kudos to the brave man who didn't allow the crime to continue. I am sure if he was a worker he would have gotten fired for attempting to take down the crook. It seems as though in our day and age we would rather report the incident, fill out paper work, and hope for the best.

Heckeld, Apology, and Acceptance...but no summit?

In all seriousness, today marks the 8th year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Let us remember to continue to pray for our nations leaders and military personnel.

On Sept. 9, Wed. night the President gave a speech on Health Care an was heckled by Rep. JoeWilson (R-S.C.). "You lie!" he said, in reaction to Mr. Obama's statement re: illegal aliens not being covered by the "public option." Here's a short clip:

Wilson apologizes (which doesn't speak well for the democrats who booed former President Bush during his speech to Congress) and Mr. Obama accepts the apology:

Is it all "patched up" now? Without a beer summit?

Drunk Driving and High

This is exactly why first drunk driving is evil and THC (substance in Marijuanna)should never be legalized. If people think we have a problem with drunk driving, just wait. BTW, this lady had a history (prior to all this) of having her son ( I think he was five) blow into her car's breathalyzer (bec. she was again under the influence of alcohol), her son called 911 and reported the incident - - sad.

Our Judeo Christian Nation

America is as Christian, as Christians get (and stay) involved in this great country.

Sotomayor the Under Dog

I posted this comment on YouTube:

"What does being an "under dog" have to do with being qualified for the bench? Empathy, sympathy, tear jerker stories, "race", "gender", has nothing to do with interpreting the law and ruling properly. She made an inappropriate comment about her background which is both sexist and racist. I am glad that she has the opportunity to become a Supreme Court justice, but I am not glad that she has to invoke that kind of a remark in order to make people think that she is qualified."

And that is what I think of this matter.

Furthermore...Mr. President, we need a justice who will defend the rights of the most helpless within our society, those human lives that have no one to defend them since their mothers elect to have them killed. I know you differ in philosophy with many of us on that, but you and I know that human life is precious and deserving of the very first of the inalienable rights, i.e. the right to life.