Officers launched a full-scale search that included more than a dozen deputies and dogs. While the manhunt was going on, Mrs. Moran-Mora received more texts from her husband telling her the kidnappers were letting him go and he would be home soon.

It wasn't long before deputies used signals from his cell phone to locate the Seventh Day Adventist Church of Reform pastor. They say Moran-Mora, 38, was with another woman and admitted that he'd fabricated the kidnapping story so his wife wouldn't find out he was spending time with his mistress.

The minister was charged with filing a false police report and released on $500 bail. http://blog.trutv.com/dumb_as_a_blog/2009/08/text-in-the-city.html - Read More

Here's another clue that it's time to re-think your relationship. Your guy sticks you with the restaurant tab and steals your car -- on the first date.

It happened to a 27-year-old woman in Ferndale, Mich., who agreed to go out to dinner with a man she met at a casino. Police say she drove Terrance Dejuan McCoy to the restaurant and after the meal, he asked for her keys, saying he'd left his wallet in the car. She told investigators she watched from their table as McCoy took flight from the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant -- speeding off in her 2000 Chevy Impala.

Cops found the car a week later in Detroit, but there was no sign of McCoy. They did, however, have a photo he'd sent to the victim's cell phone, as well as his phone number from the calls he'd made to set up their date.

That was enough for detectives to track him down and bring him to court on Aug. 27. McCoy, 23, was ordered to stand trial on a felony charge of unlawfully driving away in his date's car. http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2009/08/28/news/srv0000006240595.txt - Read More

Fortunately for a woman in Muncie, Ind., her relationship with James Duncan didn't actually get to the date stage.

She told police she met Duncan, 32, of Montpelier at a swimming pool this summer and their children became friends. She invited them to her home for her daughter's birthday party, where Duncan allegedly stole a book of checks.

Investigator Michael Edwards said it took a few weeks for the victim to realize what had happened and become suspicious of Duncan, who had been charged in two separate check theft cases earlier in the year.

Police got a break when the woman informed them Duncan had just called to ask her out on a date. She told him to pick her up at her place on Aug. 21. And Officer Edwards was there waiting for him.

"Sure enough, he shows up and knocks on the door and he was quite surprised to see me at the door," Edwards said.

Now Duncan is in jail and the only date he has is in court, to face charges of forgery and theft.

"He's not very smart," Edwards told the Muncie Star Press. "He may be one of the dumbest criminals." http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20090824/NEWS01/908240330/1002/Police-say-man-stole-checks--then-asked-victim-on-date - Read More

Police in Illinois have their own nominee for dumbest criminal.

"I've seen some bizarre and dumb actions on the part of suspects, but this ranks up there as one of the finest examples of a dumb suspect I've encountered," East Peoria Police Chief Ed Papis told the Journal Star. He was talking about Billy J. Robinson, who walked into Papis' office Aug. 26 asking for money to buy a bus ticket. Officers who had been hunting for a suspect in a car break-in earlier in the afternoon noticed that Robinson matched the description of their man -- right down to the large growth on his left ear.

Robinson, 20, of St. Louis was also carrying bags containing screwdrivers, pliers and a flashlight -- along with four pages of detailed instructions for breaking into and hot-wiring cars, according to the chief. On one page was this note: "Try this at night."

Police arrested Robinson on charges of attempted vehicle theft, criminal damage to property and criminal trespass to vehicle. But first, Papis scolded him.

"I told him he didn't follow the instructions correctly," the chief said. http://www.pjstar.com/news/x51930019/Man-could-be-East-Peorias-dumbest-criminal - Read More

If there was a book called 'Crime for Dummies,' it would have to include this instruction: Once they let you out of jail, don't break back in.

That tip would be for Sylvester Jiles, who was released from the Brevard County Detention Center in Sharpes, Fla., last week. The 24-year-old had accepted a plea deal for manslaughter in the 2007 shooting of Dustin Prouse.

On Monday night, police said, Jiles was back at the jail begging to be taken back into custody because he was afraid Prouse's family would take revenge on him. Officers refused and told him to file a police report.

Instead, Jiles tried to get inside by climbing a fence topped with razor wire. He fell, suffering serious injuries. The sheriff's office could file new charges that would put Jiles back behind bars -- after he gets out of the hospital. http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090903/BREAKINGNEWS/90902034/1086/Man+who+tried+to+break+into+Brevard+jail+in+stable+condition - Read More