All Fired Up: 5 Craziest Crimes of the Week

A car fire and someone wanting to get fired (so, yeah, lots of fire) are among the weirdest crime stories of the week:

• Cops: Chocolate Plant Worker Went to Extremes to Get Fired: Hate your job so much that you'd do practically anything to get canned? Police say that's how a Vermont chocolate factory worker felt, and that he did the first thing that came to mind to get out of his torturous 9-to-5. Kristofer Pregent, 22, is accused of stealing a co-worker's cellphone and then doing something that got him hit with a slew of charges.
• Another Guy Accused of Going to Extremes—for His Car: Maybe it's just the Week of Overreactions and no one told us? They apparently told New Hampshire's Shad Badeau, who police say got hot under the collar on Sunday night when he found out his car was about to be towed and allegedly took desperate measures as it was being prepped to be hauled away.

• Costco Dispute Leads to Face-Punching: Did someone cut the line? Block the aisle with too many flatbed shopping carts? A 78-year-old man shopping at a California Costco Sunday morning apparently didn't like what 24-year-old Derrick Gharabighi was doing, lectured him, and then allegedly took one in the face from the junior shopper, who was charged with elder abuse. Gharabighi apparently took one too many of a certain item for the elderly man's taste (and no, not the last package of bulk TP).
• If You're Going to Steal a Sweatshirt, Don't Wear It on Your Next Crime Spree: That's hopefully a lesson learned for Connecticut's 30-year-old Derek Benson, who was charged with one crime, allegedly showed up for the mugshot for that crime in a stolen sweatshirt, and was then busted for that theft, too. The phrase on the front of the sweatshirt was somewhat ironic.
• New Jersey Man Decides He's Too Busy for Court: And we'll close with, you guessed it, another alleged overreaction. A 36-year-old New Jersey man who was too busy for court last week has even less free time now. According to police, Jermaine McCaine said he didn't want to go to court Sept. 17 because he "had things to do," so he's accused of doing this instead.

Click to read about more crazy crimes. (More weird crimes stories.)