The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are James Ralph Snyder and Mary Jo Jensen. They get today's award for faking the death of Ms. Jensen's son DJ. Going to the point of running a false obituary. This was all done so these two could get some time off from work.

What a pair these two are. I bet the 'death' was done after these two had gotten in too deep. Also you wonder how gullible these people's co-workers were. They fell for all of this without anyone asking questions till near the end. Where was DJ through all of this too?

For making their case for the bad parent hall of fame, Mary Jo Jensen and James Ralph Snyder are today's Knuckleheads of the day.

Hat tip- Outside the Beltway
Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early, Mudville Gazette, Right Wing Nation, Cao's Blog, Third World County, Stuck on Stupid, TMH's Bacon Bits, Blue Star, Basil's Blog,

WATERLOO, Iowa -- Some people will do anything to get out of work.
Police in Iowa have arrested two people accused of filing a fake obituary for teenager Dan "D.J." Reddout with a newspaper to get off work for a few days.

Police said James Ralph Snyder, who is the boyfriend of Reddout's mother, and the boy's mother, Mary Jo Elizabeth Jensen, submitted a death notice to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier newspaper, saying that Jensen's 17-year-old son had died at the Mayo Clinic after a lengthy illness.

Authorities were notified after the teen was spotted at a restaurant by some family friends.

Police said the pair did it so they could get off work for a few days.

Both Snyder and Jensen worked at Tyson Foods and started taking time off from work in December by claiming the boy was hospitalized with an illness, the paper reported.

As the scheme continued, Tyson officials were told the boy was on life support and had died, according to the paper.

Snyder and Jensen took several days for funeral leave, the paper reported. After they took the days off, officials from Tyson told the pair they needed verification for their absences, the paper reported.

"The boyfriend eventually went to the Waterloo Courier and had a false obituary placed in the newspaper to satisfy their employer," the Courier reported.

The Courier reported that the teen's mother said the fake obituary was caused by "bad communication" and that Snyder submitted the obituary after she told him her son was ill and she had joked about his death.

Synder is charged with tampering with records. Jensen is charged with being an accessory after the fact.

The obituary read as follows:

Dan “D.J.” Reddout (1988-2005)




WATERLOO — Dan “D.J.” Reddout, 17, of Waterloo, died Saturday, Dec. 24, at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., of complications from surgery.

He was born April 26, 1988, in Waterloo, son of James Snyder and Mary Jo Jensen. He attended West High School.

Survived by: his parents of Waterloo; grandparents, Vern and Edie Reddout of Iowa City and Glenda Tidaman of Waterloo; an uncle, Kevin Reddout of Cedar Rapids; and two aunts, Janet Reddout of Cedar Rapids and Sandy (Randy) Lee of Stout.

Graveside services: were Tuesday at Osage Memorial Cemetery, Osage.

Memorials: may be directed to the family.