For Pizza-Delivery Prank From Jail, Beer Thief Faces 2 Felonies
A jailhouse pizza-delivery prank may have earned a Kentucky man already facing public intoxication and shoplifting charges a few more "toppings" for his rap sheet.
Michael Harp, 29, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and was being booked into the Whitley County Detention Center in Corbin, Kentucky, when he allegedly hatched a plan to prank the officer who had just arrested him, Lexington's WKYT-TV reports.
What was Harp's genius plan, and how might it come back to haunt him in court?
5 Pizzas for 'Officer Wilson'
Police say that while being booked, Harp asked if he could make a phone call from his cell phone. Although, depending on the state you're in, you may or may not have a right to make a phone call after being arrested and may also be limited to whom you can call, in this case officers allowed Harp to make the call, likely assuming he would call a family member, close friend, or an attorney.
Instead, police claim that Harp called up a local Domino's Pizza and ordered five pizzas in the name of "Officer Wilson" -- the police officer who arrested him.
Police were able to link the order to Harp's cell phone number, but Harp claims he's innocent. Why? Because he let other inmates use the phone, and insists he has no idea who ordered the pizzas.
Nevertheless, Harp now faces two additional charges: identity theft and impersonating a police officer.
Ingredients for Identity Theft?
Although many people probably associate identity theft with opening up fake credit cards in someone else's name or stealing someone's Social Security number, charges for identity theft can be brought for a broad array of relatively mild offenses, such as logging in to someone else's Facebook or even posing as another person to order pizzas.
Criminal punishments for identity theft can be serious potentially very serious, however. Under Kentucky law, theft of identity is a Class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
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Related Resources:
- Following Arrest Suspect Uses Only Phone Call To Order Pizza (Lexington, Kentucky's WTVQ-TV)
- Can Prank Calls Get You Arrested? (FindLaw's Blotter)
- Man Arrested for Making 80 911 Prank Calls in One Day (FindLaw's Legally Weird)
- CO Woman Arrested After 48 Prank 911 Phone Calls (FindLaw's Legally Weird)