EV Owner Arrested Over 5 Cents Worth of Electricity From School's Outlet

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday December 4, 2013 @07:00AM from the charged-for-charging dept.

sl4shd0rk writes "It seems you can be arrested in Georgia for drawing 5 cents of electricity from a school's outdoor receptacle. Kaveh Kamooneh was charged with theft for plugging his Nissan Leaf into a Chamblee Middle School 110V outlet; the same outlet one could use to charge a laptop or cellphone. The Leaf draws 1KW/hour while charging which works out to under $0.10 of electricity per hour. Mr Kamooneh charged his Leaf for less than 30 minutes, which works out to about a nickel. Sgt. Ernesto Ford, the arresting officer, pointed out, 'theft is a theft,' which was his argument for arresting Mr. Kamooneh. Considering the cost of the infraction, it does not seem a reasonable decision when considering how much this will cost the state in legal funds. Does this mean anyone charging a laptop or cell phone will be charged with theft as well?"

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Theft is theft, but... by houstonbofh · 2013-12-04 07:03 · Score: 4, Funny

In most states, Theft under $5 is just a ticket... Theft under 5 cents is a PR nightmare. :)
1. Re:Theft is theft, but... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-12-04 07:08 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  In most states, Theft under $5 is just a ticket...
  Citation needed
2. Re:Theft is theft, but... by JonWan · 2013-12-04 08:18 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  We just shoot them and then call the police. :-)
3. Re:Theft is theft, but... by Sponge+Bath · 2013-12-04 09:07 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ...and report the bullets as stolen.