Police Blotter: Man Avoids Prison, But Is All Out Of Bubblegum

Crime is a constant feature of video games writing. Somewhere, someone is doing something illicit with them — sometimes comically stupid, but potentially tragic. Games and consoles are currency, objects of dispute, sometimes even weapons themselves. Kotaku‘s Police Blotter is here to round up the latest in games crime.

Put On These Glasses, or Start Eating That Trash Can

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — A 23-year-old man avoided jail time for a psychotic episode last year in which he brandished a toy shotgun inside a bank, believing himself to be in a video game. “In his delusional state, he imagined his sunglasses were displaying a game score,” reports the Canberra Times. “The sunglasses told him how many enemies he had killed and how many were left.” Status of how much bubblegum he had left, apparently, was not displayed.

Courteous Suspects Save Cops Time

WEST HAVEN, CONN. — Two men and a woman are in the slammer on burglary and larceny charges for stealing a big flat screen TV and “Xbox gaming system,” according to the New Haven Register. On Friday, the trio strolled into a New Haven pawn shop with their ill-gotten booty — where detectives assigned to the very same case where investigating another.

Beware of Cougars

PALMERSTON, AUSTRALIA — Two 28-year-old blokes must have thought they hit the jackpot when they took home four women, between ages 20 and 49, from the bar on Saturday, and proceeded to get rip-roaring drunk and high. As the passed-out marks snoozed, the ladies made off with an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, two samurai swords, a pressure washer, “… and a broom,” notes the Northwest Territory News. All of the property has since been returned and the four women are facing a variety of charges.

Death Row Inmate Says He was Framed as ‘Xbox Murders’ Ringleader

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Troy Victorino, serving a death row sentence for his role in the infamous “Xbox Murders” of 2004, insists he was framed as the ringleader, but Florida’s supreme court appeared sceptical of the appeal in hearings late last week, according to The St. Augustine (Fla.) Record. Six people were bludgeoned to death in the August 2004 slayings, which acquired their nickname because Victorino allegedly had gone to retrieve his belongings, including the gaming console, from the home where the killings occurred. One other defendant got a death sentence, too. Victorino’s convictions were upheld in a 2009 appeal; this one was brought as a claim of ineffective counsel.

No Death Penalty for Dad Accused of Killing Infant who Interrupted Game

HIGH POINT, N.C. — A man will not face the death penalty when he goes on trial for the death of his infant son, whom investigators say was killed by a punch to the face by his enraged father, upset the baby’s crying interrupted his video game. Brian Jack Frazier, 20, and the baby’s mother, Stefany Renee Ash, 20, both face first-degree murder charges, she for allegedly discussing such actions as hiding the baby’s body, reporting a kidnapping, or Frazier feeling to the mountains. (Winston-Salem, N.C. Journal)

Also in crime news this past week:

• Julian Knight, the shooter in Melbourne’s infamous Hoddle Street Massacre of 1987, is suing his prison for refusing to let him have a PlayStation (unspecified model) in his cell.

• One teenager is in a world of trouble after he and two others allegedly robbed a home of a PlayStation 3, and held a babysitter and two children there at gunpoint. The babysitter recognised one of the intruders under his bandana and drove to his mother’s house to tell her, where cops caught him and an accomplice

• She-Hulk, or someone matching her description, anyway, is wanted by York, England police in connection with an assault outside a McDonald’s.

Lots of strange things happen in the pages of your local newspaper or on the 6 o’clock news. If you see something, say something. To me, that is. I’d like to write it up. Remember: You need not reveal your identity.

To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.