Only in America: Obituary chicanery

(Image credit: Bernard Radvaner/Corbis)

To explain his absence from work, Scott Bennett of Brookville, Pa., planted an obituary for his mother in the local paper, The Jeffersonian Democrat, and showed it to his boss. Bennett's scheme to take paid bereavement leave started falling apart when friends and relatives began calling the paper to report the error, and eventually, Bennett's mother showed up at the newspaper herself, police say. Bennett lost his job, and the cops arrested him for disorderly conduct. "One of the reasons we didn't file more serious charges was he has enough problems as it is," explains police chief Ken Dworek.