Man receives 50-year sentence for stealing $35 rack of ribs

It was the rack of ribs that broke the jury's patience.

There was no straw, nor camels in court this week when Willie Smith Ward faced charges of stealing a $35 rack of ribs from a grocery store in Waco, Texas, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. But something certainly snapped when the jury convicted him within two minutes and sentenced him to 50 years in jail.

The local newspaper reported the jury sentenced 43-year-old Ward as a "habitual criminal" because of a string of past felony and misdemeanour charges including burglary, assault and cocaine possession.

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His final crime was slipping a rack of pork ribs underneath his shirt and trying to leave a grocery store without paying for the meat, according to the story. When a store employee tried to stop him, he reportedly said he had a knife.

“This verdict shows that the citizens of this county will not tolerate a continued disrespect and disregard for other people and their property,” the Assistant District Attorney told the Tribune-Herald. “People who choose to do so will be dealt with seriously and appropriately.”

Others might choose different words to describe a 50-year sentence, but a nice bit of understatement nonetheless.

Cookies and coffee were the downfall of another pair in Penndel, Pennsylvania this week after they confessed to breaking into a church and leaving with a bag full of Oreos, sugar and coffee, according to phillyBurbs.com.

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Police told the news outlet the two passed a crossing guard on their way from the church.

"You've got a full load there," the crossing guard reported saying.