Wasted Daily News

By MARK PRATT, Associated Press Writer Mark Pratt, Associated Press Writer
WOBURN, Mass. – A Delaware man has been charged with faking his way into Harvard and duping the Ivy League school out of $45,000 in financial aid, grants and scholarships.

Adam Wheeler, 23, of Milton, Del., was admitted to Harvard and became a student in 2007 after he falsely claimed he had earned a perfect academic record at Phillips Academy in Andover and had studied for a year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, prosecutors said Monday.

Ultimately, authorities said, Wheeler’s attempts to be an overachiever were his undoing: Harvard started to look into Wheeler’s background after he sought the school’s endorsement for Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships. A professor reviewing his application noticed similarities between Wheeler’s writing and that of a colleague, prosecutors said. Read the rest of this entry →

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina waitress is out of a job after griping on her Facebook page about the $5 tip she got from a couple who sat at their table for three hours. The waitress says the customers kept her at work an hour after she was supposed to clock out.

The Charlotte Observer reported Monday that 22-year-old Ashley Johnson felt slighted after waiting on the couple at Brixx Pizza. Read the rest of this entry →

VIERA, Fla. – A Florida man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for violating his probation by trying to break into the Brevard County jail. A judged sentenced 25-year-old Sylvester Jiles of Cocoa on Monday. He was convicted in January of trespassing on jail property and resisting an officer.

Authorities say Jiles tried to climb a 12-foot fence at the Brevard County Detention Center in August. He was caught and hospitalized with severe cuts from the barbed wire. He had been released a week earlier after accepting a plea deal on a manslaughter charge. Jiles had begged jail officials to take him back into custody, saying he feared retaliation from the victim’s family. Jail officials said they couldn’t take him in and told him to file a police report.

BOULDER, Colorado. – A woman gardening wearing only a yellow thong and pink gloves has brought neighborhood complaints and new rules from a housing authority in Colorado. Boulder Housing Partners plans to amend its rules so that tenants cover up when they’re outside. Several passers-by told Boulder police earlier this week that 52-year-old Catharine Pierce was topless while tending to her yard. Last year, she was threatened with eviction for gardening wearing only pasties and a thong.

Police responding to Wednesday’s reports decided Pierce wasn’t breaking any laws. Robert Pierce said he’ll fight changes that would keep his wife from gardening outside topless, which is legal under state and city law. “They’re making a big mistake,” he said. Read the rest of this entry →

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Americans who don’t pay their taxes face hefty fines, can have their property seized or their wages withheld. Or worse still, they could find themselves named and shamed on the Internet.

The east coast state of Maryland on Thursday published on the Internet its annual “Caught in the Web” list of the 50 biggest tax dodgers in the state, along with the amount the scofflaws owe.

At the top of this year’s list is the name and address of a resident of Towson, near Baltimore, who owes the state more than half a million dollars. Nipping at his heels is a company that owes more than 400,000 dollars.
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KENNEWICK, Washington. – A burglar who spent about five hours on a store’s computer after breaking into the business gave police all the clues they needed to track him down. Investigators said the 17-year-old logged into his MySpace account while at Bella Office Furniture and that made it easy for them to find him. Read the rest of this entry →

BOSTON – A man from Maine who struck a match on a U.S. Airways flight to Boston’s Logan International Airport is facing some heat — but not over matches. Massachusetts State Police detained 50-year-old Paul Prater of Sanford on Wednesday over an outstanding identity fraud warrant in Canton, Ga. State police spokesman David Procopio said no charges have been brought for the match lighting, which Prater called an accident. Read the rest of this entry →