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Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 7:02:42 AM

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WASHINGTON -- Police on Capitol Hill are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a teenager and ended in a group hug.

It started about midnight on June 16 when a group of friends was finishing a dinner of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp on the back patio of a District of Columbia home. That's when a hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the head of a 14-year-old girl.

"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he said, according to D.C. police and witnesses.

Everyone froze, including the girl's parents. Then one guest spoke.

"We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, told the man. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"

The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery and said, "Damn, that's good wine."

The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, told the intruder to take the whole glass, and Rowan offered him the whole bottle.

The robber, with his hood down, took another sip and a bite of Camembert cheese. He put the gun in his sweatpants.

The story then turns even more bizarre.

"I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said before apologizing. "Can I get a hug?"

Rowan, who works at her children's school and lives in Falls Church, Va., stood up and wrapped her arms around the armed man. The four other guests followed.

"Can we have a group hug?" the man asked. The five adults complied.

The man walked away a few moments later with the crystal wine glass in hand. Nothing was stolen, and no one was hurt.

Once he was gone, the group walked into the house, locked the door and stared at each other - speechless. Rabdau called 911, and police came to take a report and dust for fingerprints.

Police classified the case as strange but true. Investigators have not located a suspect. The witnesses thought he might have been high on drugs.

"We've had robbers that apologize and stuff but nothing where they sit down and drink wine. It definitely is strange," said Cmdr. Diane Groomes, adding that the hugs were especially unusual. "The only good thing is they would be able to identify him because they hugged him."
---
Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

Post #: 1

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 7:41:51 AM

LeMis

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From: Florida
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omg

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Make a mental note . . . oh, I see you're out of paper!
Make somebody happy. Mind your own business.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. — Lincoln

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RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 7:58:08 AM

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At least no one was hurt, but he did make off with the wine glass

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to LeMis)

Post #: 3

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 8:08:10 AM

mistoferin

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Behold the power of cheese! (and wine

)

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Peace and light,
~erin~

There are no victims here...only volunteers.

When you make a habit of playing on the tracks, you thereby forfeit the right to bitch when you get hit by a train.

"I did it! I admit it and I'm gonna do it again!"

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RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 8:17:07 AM

LeMis

Posts: 9255
Joined: 9/24/2005
From: Florida
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

At least no one was hurt, but he did make off with the wine glass

and now they are left with an incomplete set of wine glasses

(don't peek in my wine cupboard, lol)

_____________________________

Make a mental note . . . oh, I see you're out of paper!
Make somebody happy. Mind your own business.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. — Lincoln

(in reply to Level)

Post #: 5

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 8:21:41 AM

angelic

Posts: 1807
Joined: 1/24/2005
Status: offline

LOL... nope he actually left the wine glass in tact as he was leaving. Actually i sorta liked this article, but then i am sucker for happy endings.

_____________________________

~....and once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return.~ -- Leonardo de Vinci

(in reply to LeMis)

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RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 8:22:53 AM

mistoferin

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Joined: 10/27/2004
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quote:

ORIGINAL: LeMis

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

At least no one was hurt, but he did make off with the wine glass

and now they are left with an incomplete set of wine glasses

(don't peek in my wine cupboard, lol)

Actually, the police found the empty wine glass in an alley way behind the home, unbroken!

_____________________________

Peace and light,
~erin~

There are no victims here...only volunteers.

When you make a habit of playing on the tracks, you thereby forfeit the right to bitch when you get hit by a train.

"I did it! I admit it and I'm gonna do it again!"

(in reply to LeMis)

Post #: 7

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 8:28:48 AM

KMsAngel

Posts: 17415
Joined: 4/13/2007
Status: offline

uh, you mean ur supposed to have a complete set? (quickly counts, hides the rest away)

(in reply to LeMis)

Post #: 8

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 8:37:20 AM

LeMis

Posts: 9255
Joined: 9/24/2005
From: Florida
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: mistoferin

quote:

ORIGINAL: LeMis

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

At least no one was hurt, but he did make off with the wine glass

and now they are left with an incomplete set of wine glasses

(don't peek in my wine cupboard, lol)

Actually, the police found the empty wine glass in an alley way behind the home, unbroken!

Whew!

I still don't have a complete set though...

_____________________________

Make a mental note . . . oh, I see you're out of paper!
Make somebody happy. Mind your own business.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. — Lincoln

(in reply to mistoferin)

Post #: 9

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 9:05:51 AM

Level

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Joined: 3/3/2006
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quote:

ORIGINAL: LeMis

quote:

ORIGINAL: mistoferin

quote:

ORIGINAL: LeMis

quote:

ORIGINAL: Level

At least no one was hurt, but he did make off with the wine glass

and now they are left with an incomplete set of wine glasses

(don't peek in my wine cupboard, lol)

Actually, the police found the empty wine glass in an alley way behind the home, unbroken!

Whew!

I still don't have a complete set though...

Maybe the Hugging Bandit got yours?

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to LeMis)

Post #: 10

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 9:07:48 AM

LeMis

Posts: 9255
Joined: 9/24/2005
From: Florida
Status: offline

maybe...
however I didn't get a hug either...
wahhh...

*birthday hint*
complete set of wine glasses, lol

(but I don't drink, even though my spelling may make you think I do, lol)

_____________________________

Make a mental note . . . oh, I see you're out of paper!
Make somebody happy. Mind your own business.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. — Lincoln

(in reply to Level)

Post #: 11

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 9:09:22 AM

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Joined: 3/3/2006
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quote:

ORIGINAL: LeMis

maybe...
however I didn't get a hug either...
wahhh...

*birthday hint*
complete set of wine glasses, lol

(but I don't drink, even though my spelling may make you think I do, lol)

How 'bout a hug, instead?

_____________________________

Fake the heat and scratch the itch
Skinned up knees and salty lips
Let go it's harder holding on
One more trip and I'll be gone

~~ Stone Temple Pilots

(in reply to LeMis)

Post #: 12

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 9:34:31 AM

LeMis

Posts: 9255
Joined: 9/24/2005
From: Florida
Status: offline

Well...

I suppose a hug will do....

but my birthday isn't til Novemember so you got time...

LOL

_____________________________

Make a mental note . . . oh, I see you're out of paper!
Make somebody happy. Mind your own business.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. — Lincoln

(in reply to Level)

Post #: 13

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 11:58:58 AM

SugarMyChurro

Posts: 1912
Joined: 4/26/2007
Status: offline

Drugs do not actually make most people into something other than who they are already.

The actions of this supposed robber can be explained this way: he was adrift. He had arrived at a moment in his life when he felt utterly disconnected to any kind of sensible, benign, civilized behavior - so he picked up a gun and did something stupid. When he was met with the civility and generosity of people that simply were not going to play his game of "robber versus terrorized victims" his scheme fell apart. Suddenly, he was totally off the grid - the "victims" weren't using the same script he had played out in his mind; he had to alter his own script in order to adapt to the new circumstances of the foiled robbery.

Seriously. I read this story and just thought that this guy had no one to call friend. No one to connect him to the society we dare to call civilization. That's not right. This robber is why we have to have better social programs to bring people back into the fold of civilized behavior. Failing that, the results I think are predictable.

No man is an island.

(in reply to LeMis)

Post #: 14

RE: Robbery ends with wine, hugs - 7/14/2007 12:11:34 PM

Aswad

Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
Status: offline

~nod~

Pretty much agree, SugarMyChurro.

This is the best news I've had in a while.

Really cool story, in a way; of course, they were probably scared halfway out of their wits, but dang... nobody got hurt, nothing got stolen, and a bit of positive human emotion for once turned a potential tragedy into something good, and perhaps even set this guy on a different path. Definitely newsworthy. Let's just hope he gets his life straightened out, and that the police don't mess it up and put him back in that mindspace he was in before it all started..

_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.

(in reply to SugarMyChurro)

Post #: 15

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