Costly economics lesson for student

A Miami University student who wanted two cats passed over the chance to adopt them from local animal shelters and instead went through the internet. It was a costly lesson and a very costly one.

The student contacted Oxford police March 1 saying that the original request for two cats in February had been followed up by several requests for more money, first for $800 which was to include $60 for the kittens and $740 for a flying fee from Cameroon and then for another $2,000 for insurance. Both of those fees were paid but the student became suspicious when a third request came for a city permit for $3,500.

Delivery of the kittens was expected Feb. 27 from Oregon, but they did not arrive.

Police checked the website from which the kittens had been ordered, but it was no longer active.

OVI Charge in Monday crash

A female Miami student was cited for five charges, including operating a vehicle intoxicated early Monday morning after damaging three cars on South Main Street and hitting a pole on Heather Lane, knocking out power to an area of the city.

Police were dispatched Monday at 3 a.m. to Heather Lane where they found a car that had hit a guide wire to a power pole after going off the road and swerving several times. The driver was not with the vehicle but the woman was found walking nearby talking on a cellphone and seemingly intoxicated.

They stopped her to talk about the accident she told them she “may have wrecked the car.”

Another report was made of three cars damaged on South Main and the officers found she had hit a Nissan and then a Chevrolet and that latter vehicle hit a Ford parked in front of it.

The woman told officers she had been at an Uptown bar since 3 p.m. Sunday and performed poorly on field sobriety tests. She was taken to the Oxford Police Department where she tested .225 on the breathalyzer, nearly three times the legal limit.

She was cited for OVI, having an expired license, leaving the scene of an accident (the Main Street crashes) and two counts of reasonable control (one for Main Street and one for Heather Lane).

Resisting gets student to county jail

An intoxicated Miami student who tried several times to pay his bill at Bruno’s Pizza without success chose to flee with the restaurant’s tip jar and made it worse for himself when he refused to get out of the police cruiser at the Oxford Police Department.

The student tried to use an invalid credit card and then several other cards failed at 2:36 a.m. March 2. When he grabbed the tip jar and tried to leave he was stopped by people waiting in line and held until officers arrived.

The man was unsteady on his feet and unable to produce identification when asked to do so by officers, who then found a wallet in his pocket. It had two identifications, one from Pennsylvania with mostly accurate information but a date of birth showing him to be 23. Also found was an Illinois license showing him to be 19.

Officers put him in the cruiser but when they arrived there, he told them he was resisting and not going to get out. The officer then closed the door and took him to the Butler County Jail. When they arrived there, the man had urinated and defecated himself and then spent a day-and-a-half in jail before being released.

He was charged with attempted theft, offenses involving underage persons and certain acts prohibited for the fake ID.