Dateline: EnglandA man who allegedly posed as his ex-fiancée’s dead mother in an attempt to rekindle the relationship has received a suspended prison sentence. Cornwall Live reports that Roy Meadwell was sentenced to four months in prison after he violated a restraining order banning him from contacting Kay Wimbury or entering Cornwall, where she lived. According to authorities, Meadwell broke a court order that was given to him after he attacked Wimbury in 2016. He reportedly went to a psychic shop for a consultation and took a leaflet home with him. He then sent an anonymous letter to Wimbury which appeared to have been written by her dead mother. The letter described a Christmas ornament given to her by her mother that had broken but was fixed by Meadwell. It urged her to call the man who “sacrificed everything” for her and listed a number of favors Meadwell had performed for Wimbury. A second anonymous message purportedly written by Meadwell was also delivered to Wimbury’s home. This message, supposedly written by an anonymous friend, read “OMG, can’t you see the greatness in this man.” Meadwell denied five counts of breaking a restraining order, but was found guilty of four of them by a jury. He was sentenced to four months in jail, suspended for two years so that the restraining order can remain in effect.Dateline: New JerseyHoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla has received criticism after it appeared that he thanked himself on Facebook. According to New Jersey 101.5, “Ravi Bhalla, Mayor of Hoboken” made a post on Facebook concerning his own efforts to help relieve residents who were affected by a broken water main. Photos of the mayor handing out bottles of water at his constituent’s doors were accompanied by a message that the water would be turned back on within hours. Soon after the post was published, a comment by “Ravi Bhalla, Mayor of Hoboken” appeared, saying, “Thanks for the hands on work and unrelenting pressure you’re placing on Suez. It’s needed and necessary.” Other users quickly noticed the mistake and pointed it out. “You realize you’ve posted this comment yourself, right?” one commenter asked. Michael DeFusco, a Hoboken City Councilman and previous rival of Bhalla’s for mayor, took to Twitter to give the mayor some advice: “Thanks for being there during the latest #hoboken water main burst, but just a suggestion—next time, wait to get actual feedback from residents before making up things all by yourself.” Bhalla’s brother Amardeep Singh later claimed that he had accessed the account and mistakenly created the post, not the mayor. Dateline: MexicoA restaurant in Mexico City was told to stop serving tarantula tacos after it was discovered that the spider being used was a protected species. A video was released to Facebook earlier this month depicting footage of a chef at the México En El Paladar restaurant using an aerosol can and lighter to torch a tarantula for use in an expensive, exotic taco. The video went viral and soon attracted the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency. FOX News reports the arachnid was identified as a Mexican red rump tarantula—a species protected under federal law. Agents sent into the restaurant confiscated four spider carcasses. México En El Paladar was reportedly selling the tacos for 500 pesos—nearly $27. Restaurant patrons looking for insect-based dishes won’t be disappointed, however, since the menu retains grasshoppers, scorpions, moth larvae and worm and ant eggs. It is unclear if any penalty will be leveled against the restaurant’s owners, who have said they will stop serving the dish until they can prove that they’ve obtained their ingredients legally.Dateline: FloridaA Florida security guard was fired after filming himself farting in his workplace for six months. AV Club reports that a man using the name “Paul Flart” on Instagram recently gained viral fame for a series of videos documenting his farts. The videos generally consist of Flart looking directly into the camera accompanied by the sound of flatulence. Flart was interviewed by Vice last week and revealed that his first name was actually Doug, though he declined to reveal his last name. In the interview he commented on the sudden success of his Instagram account—which recently gained over 50,000 followers—saying, “It transcends all languages. There’s no translation necessary, it’s just funny.” He said he started recording his farts after admiring the acoustic quality of the hospital lobby in which he worked. A compilation of the videos was uploaded to Reddit, where it gained a large amount of public attention. Staff at the hospital where Flart worked were made aware of the videos, and he was promptly terminated from his position. He was informed that he was being fired for using a mobile phone during work hours in violation of company policy. Flart filmed the confrontation.
Compiled by Joshua Lee. Email your weird news to josh@alibi.com.
