What started as a routine traffic stop ended with a Colorado teen doing hard time. The offense? Not returning a “House of Flying Daggers” DVD to his local library. Come on, Colorado. You’re better than that.
Apparently young Aaron Henson, an impressionable lad all of 19 years old, fell in with the wrong DVD-borrowing crowd sometime last year. Henson packed up the flick for a move, forgot that he had it, and ended up with a warrant for his arrest:.
Why all the fuss? Because apparently the municipality of Littleton, CO values the DVD of a 2004 release at $31.45, and any “theft” over $30 gets prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Also of note: Littleton, CO has apparently never heard of Amazon.
Anyhow, the whole mess get straightened out after Henson’s family forked over a $200 fine for the DVD, $200 to remove the car from the impound lot, and $60 in court fees. And while Littleton has acknowledged its mistake and the mayor swears it won’t happen again, the arrest is still on Aaron’s record.
Just so long as no one got hurt, I suppose, except for the integrity of our judicial system. [The Denver Channel via Consumerist]