See story.How does the defense lawyer keep a straight face?http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=192899
I’m not sure I understand. The guy was just stealing tokens? Even though he could ride for free? Maybe they should have gone for the insanity defense.
He was stealing coins from the fare boxes as well - the article said he had $30k in coins in his house.
Reminds me of Danny DeVito’s coin collection in Throw Momma From the Train - “This is a quarter. This is a nickel. This is a dime. This is another nickel.”
While it’s the most obvious explanation of his “coin collection”, I think that it might be hard to prove that he actually did steal it from the transit authority.
The really funny part-the MBTA no longer uses metal tokens (they have been replaced by magnetic strip paper cards.) The guy was caught redeeming the tokens for the cards, which he sold for cash. Stupid! I like the “coin collector” defense-though nobody collects obsolete subway tokens. I wonder what a stretch in jail is like, when you are 69 years old? :mad:
Millions of tokens are in the hands of folks who keep them as mementos of a vacation trip. When I went to NYC in the spring of 2002, the transit authority was selling obsolete tokens for several times their original price. Some were made into jewelry and keychains, and they were more pricey yet.
This guy’s cache of old tokens could eventually be worth more than the cash he hoarded.