"Common Sense Isn't That Common": 15 Criminals Who Got Caught In Ways Too Ridiculous To Believe

In May 2026, a Texas man was taken into custody after he drove his Tesla Cybertruck into Grapevine Lake to allegedly test the vehicle’s “Wade Mode” feature. 

After the local police responded to a 911 call at Katie’s Woods Park Boat Ramp and found the vehicle partially submerged in the middle of the lake, they questioned the owner-driver about how the accident happened.

He admitted that he deliberately drove the Tesla into the lake to test how the feature would perform. He was then arrested on charges of several water-safety equipment violations and also for operating a vehicle in a closed section of a park or lake.

“Wade Mode” allows the car to “enter and drive through bodies of water, such as rivers or creeks”, according to Tesla’s Cybertruck manual. The maximum wade depth is approximately 32 in (815 mm), measured from the bottom of the tire. 

To enable the feature, drivers must fully close all doors and windows, reduce the vehicle’s speed to less than 20 mph, and then drive at 1-3 mph through the water.

31-year-old Blake Brehmer found out the hard way that selling fake contraband is a crime that can land one in jail. 

The Indiana man was taken into custody in June 2026 after he allegedly sold kosher salt to an undercover law enforcement officer, claiming the salt was m*thamph***mine. 

Kosher salt is a coarse-grained, minimally processed salt with large, flaky crystals, named for its use in koshering meat. 

According to reports, Brehmer met the undercover cop on June 15 to sell him the substance in exchange for money, arranged by the law enforcement department. The officer was wearing a hidden recording device during the transaction to capture Brehmer in the act on video. 

In April 2026, security employees at a Best Buy outlet in Pasadena, California, called the police in the middle of the night after a live CCTV feed showed a man walking inside the store. 

Upon arrival and gaining access to the store with the help of an employee, the cops found 45-year-old Patrick Keys roaming the aisles. 

There were no signs of forced entry and no reports of any stolen items recovered from Keys. However, he was still taken into custody and arrested on burglary charges.

It was believed that he stayed inside the store and kept himself hidden when the gates were closed for the night. 

Jonathan Hackett, 41, was arrested on February 1, 2026, for allegedly breaking into a Little Caesars outlet in Kinston, North Carolina, and selling pizzas to customers. He previously worked at Little Caesars, though it is not clear whether at this branch or elsewhere. 

After Kinston Police Department officials arrived at the establishment, they found that Hackett had done so on “two separate occasions.”

“During the first incident, Hackett entered the business, prepared pizzas, sold them to customers, and kept the proceeds for himself,” the police said. He allegedly sold 10 pizzas and pocketed around $50. 

He tried to enter the store a second time later that day and encountered resistance from the employees on duty, sparking a physical altercation. 

Hackett was treated at UNC Lenoir for injuries sustained in the brawl and was taken into custody at the Lenoir County Jail with a $50,000 bond. His mugshot showed his right eye was completely swollen shut.

Social media is not the best place to overshare, but sometimes the habit helps law enforcement officers do their jobs. 

Reports in January 2026 claimed that Jordan L. McCorvery, 32, robbed a mail carrier in Ohio in November 2025 and proceeded to share several Instagram stories showing a few of the stolen documents. 

He and an accomplice allegedly intercepted the vehicle on its regular delivery route, pulled out a knife, and demanded access before stealing a tray of mail addressed to locations in the Reynoldsburg ZIP code.

Among the posted photos were letters from banks, including one statement showing a $50,102 balance and another with an attached debit or credit card. He also posted a picture of himself in front of a Wells Fargo ATM. 

In January 2026, 18-year-old Isaac M. Hurley decided to remain inside a Walmart outlet after the store was closed for views on TikTok and ended up in prison. 

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call an hour before midnight on January 13 after a 911 caller alleged that a man was still inside a Walmart on McCall Road. 

The cops found Hurley in the dog bed section of the store. 

Authorities said he entered the store around 10:15 p.m. and planned to remain overnight to complete a TikTok trend called “24-Hour Fort Overnight Challenge.” He also removed an iPhone charger from its packaging to charge his device while livestreaming his stay. 

Participants in this challenge attempt to crash into closed businesses after hours and make a “fort” with appropriate materials to hide out all night. Starting in 2023, videos of this trend have reportedly garnered over 400,000 likes. 

“I want you to get a full look at a lady who I’m sure was born with all her brain cells, but she has fried them all, and she’s operating on about two half cells.” 

That is how Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd introduced in a video 48-year-old Gina Redding of Lake Wales, who was arrested in June 2026 for carrying fentanyl, but not in a regular way. 

The incident began when Redding ignored a roadblock set up to allow utility crews to work on power lines and drove off, bypassing the deputy stationed to redirect traffic. She was stopped at the other end by a patrolling deputy, who issued a citation.

Displeased, Redding started following the patrol vehicle and allegedly dialed 911. Due to unlawful misuse of the emergency system, she was pulled over a second time, arrested, and was also issued a citation for illegally tinted windows. 

During a routine search of her vehicle, the police found marijuana. 

“But that didn’t explain why she was acting like this,” Sheriff Judd said. “So, we get her to the jail, and we put her through the scanning system.”

Confusion ensued at a bank in Woodsfield, Ohio, on an early December day in 2025 after the bank’s drive-thru pneumatic tube system brought in a bag of narcotics. 

These tube systems use vacuum air pressure to transport cylindrical canisters between a customer's vehicle and an indoor teller, moving cash, checks, or documents at high speed, propelled by blower fans.

The cops were called, and they found inside the parcel a “crystal-like substance consistent with m*th****etamine.”

An investigation led the Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies to 46-year-old Jason G. Smith, whom they located in Wayne Township by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. 

In June 2025, Carlos Owens ended up in cuffs while trying to save his dog that got trapped inside a locked bathroom at Rockwell Park in Connecticut, as per reports. 

The police were called after the park employees realized someone was moving in the chimney of the park’s recreational facility. Firefighters joined the cops at the site and removed $5,000-$10,000 worth of building parts to free Owens, who was stuck near the flue at the base of the chimney. 

It is not clear whether Owens was trying to climb up or inch down the chimney, but he said he was attempting to enter the property to rescue his dog, who had been locked inside the building’s bathroom since the night before. 

Erica Benoit, community engagement coordinator for Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth, and Community Services, told the media that the building's bathroom doors are set to timers and lock automatically every night at 10 p.m. 

Other doors can be opened from the inside. 

Owens’ dog likely entered the bathroom sometime before 10 p.m., and its owner could not open the door after it locked on its own. 

Johnny Yates, a 42-year-old Florida man, tried to throw cops off his trail using a rather straightforward tactic: a sign outside his house that said, “Johnny Yates does NOT live here!!”

It did not work. 

Yates, who the Polk County Sheriff’s Office wanted for aggravated battery, false imprisonment, and tampering charges, got cuffed after deputies showed up at his Lakeland home in October 2023.

They found the note written on a whiteboard in front of a window, with the “NOT” capitalized and underlined. 

“Gee…a dry-erase board never lied to us before — should we believe it?” the Sheriff’s office joked on Facebook after Yates’ arrest. 

“Enough was enough, and the ‘Surrender Smoke’ was dispensed inside the house, and four people exited the home, but no Johnny,” the statement continued. 

46-year-old Nadi Jabari was arrested and charged with false personation of a law enforcement officer, unlawful use of blue light, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in June 2026. 

Jabari was driving a black Chevrolet Suburban with red and blue flashing lights, as seen on police cars, when he started trailing a car and attempted to pull the driver over.

The latter was an unmarked Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office vehicle being driven by an undercover deputy. 

Other deputies stopped Jabari before he could interfere with the undercover vehicle. Their body cam footage showed that they found an unlawful emergency light setup, a firearm, and another flashlight bar from Jabari’s car.

ABC News reported that Jabari said he was a school security guard and that he accidentally activated the emergency lights in his SUV.

“I couldn’t be a news anchor cause I couldn’t resist laughing at stories like this,” one user reacted to the incident, along with multiple laughing emojis. 

“No way a security guard has all those gadgets in his car. He has bad intentions,” said one concerned netizen.

In October 2025, Florida’s Justin Farley was hit with federal charges for allegedly stealing scratched-off lottery tickets worth $7,000 from a St. Petersburg Circle K convenience store. 

The 43-year-old man was caught on the store’s CCTV opening “multiple cabinets” and taking the tickets before fleeing in a grey Hyundai Elantra, according to reports. Roughly 40 minutes later, he arrived at a 7-Eleven to redeem the tickets, but was unsuccessful. 

Farley then returned twice to the same store from which he had stolen the tickets and tried to cash in some of them. He failed both times.