As if our homeless brothers and sisters ain't got it tough enough what with the weather, the heat, the hunger, the lonliness, the hopelessness, the stigmatization, the barriers to employment, housing and health, now cops in Bangor, Maine apparently have enough time on their hands that they can search the bushes looking for those high dollar energy thieves like bigtime crook Shaun "PowerRanger" Fawster, who's heinous criminal activity resulted in about .30 cents worth of power being lifted from some poor, unsuspecting corporation.
Maybe it's because police in Bangor are too busy harassing homeless individuals about charging their phones from receptacles on private buildings that robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated assault, rape and arson have ALL increased in 2010 in the Bangor area.
If I lived in Bangor, Maine, I would have some very pointed and serious questions for the Chief of Police and my elected city officials as to why cops think this is a good use of what clearly appear to be scarce police resources when violent crime is rising in the city.
And about that "concealed weapon" charge Mr. Fawster picked up in this whole mess? A couple of points: 1. Didn't see a mention of exactly what that "concealed weapon" turned out to be, but apparently it couldn't have been too serious a weapon, since they released Mr. Fawster from jail after his arrest. Seems clearly a case of "charge him with the kitchen sink" and then force the poor sod into some plea deal so the prosecutor can improve his "conviction" stats. Happens all the time and is a very common practice for two-bit prosecutors who can't catch the real criminals raping, robbing and ransacking the community.....
Homeless Man Arrested For Using Private Outlet To Charge Phone
by Jordan Crook on July 1, 2011
Clearly, theft is wrong. But what about that ethical grey area? You’ve heard the example before: the man with no job steals bread for his family to survive. Wrong or right? I’d have to lean toward the “right” side, although that doesn’t make the situation fair for the baker, who just lost a loaf of bread. So what would you say if the father was a 23-year-old homeless American named Shaun Fawster, his family was his smartphone, and the bread was electricity to feed it? Still kind of ok, but also still unfair?
The police in Bangor, ME saw things to be pretty black and white when they came across Fawster with not one, but two phones plugged into a private building, hidden behind some flowers. Of course, the theft of electricity charge was probably just a cherry to top off his possession-of-a-concealed-weapon sundae. Fortunately for him, the weapon-wielding, phone-charging Fawster has been released on bail from the Penobscot County Jail.
I realize that his hidden weapon kind of incriminates him from that point on, but if we just set that aside, is it all that wrong to grab a little juice from an outlet when you’re on the go? I’ve never worried about police closing in on me when I pop into a Starbucks to get my charge on. But maybe I should.
