ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Chestnut sets wings record

BUFFALO, N.Y.

Organizers of the National Buffalo Wing Festival say competitive eater Joey Chestnut has devoured a record 191 chicken wings in 12 minutes.

Chestnut set the record Sunday at a wing-eating contest at the annual festival in Buffalo. He beat the old record of 183 wings, set last year by Sonya Thomas, the Black Widow.

In escape attempt, NM inmate puts Popsicle sticks to use

HOBBS, N.M.

New Mexico corrections officers say an inmate escaped his jail cell by breaking a window bar with a razor blade and a Popsicle stick but changed his mind once he got outside.

Carlos Garcia told police it took about five months to break the bar on his cell window at the Lea County jail with those materials. He also used plastic, newspaper and more Popsicle sticks to fashion a fake window.

The Hobbs News-Sun reports that Garcia changed his mind and climbed back into his second-story cell using a bedsheet.

Garcia has been moved to a maximum-security ward at the state penitentiary. He is serving time for two murder convictions and other crimes. A state Corrections Department spokeswoman says the Aug. 20 escape attempt is under investigation.

Police jail ‘con artist’ in Pittsburgh hotel scams

PITTSBURGH

A man Pittsburgh police describe as a “nationwide con man” has been jailed on charges that he ripped off five upscale hotels for free rooms and other services, and tried to do so at a sixth, by telling desk clerks a sob story about a stolen wallet.

Larry Raymond, 55, has no known permanent address, and online court records don’t list an attorney for him.

Raymond came to town Aug. 17 and told a real-estate agent he was looking for a downtown apartment or condominium, Detective Jack Mook told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

He stayed at five upscale hotels by claiming his wallet was stolen and promising to pay later, each time producing a phony bank statement as proof that he had the financial means, police said. But Raymond left each hotel without paying and tried to do the same at a sixth hotel, but “became nervous and left the building” when a desk clerk at the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel turned him away, according to a criminal complaint.

Police arrested Raymond last Wednesday about an hour after he checked into the Cambria Suites hotel, where he was located with the help of the real-estate agent.

Police first learned of Raymond from the security director of the Omni William Penn, who said he left without paying a $753 bill.

Raymond remained in the Allegheny County jail Friday, unable to post $50,000 bond, and has a preliminary hearing Wednesday on charges including theft of services and theft by deception.

Associated Press