No Free Lunch

Some news from Ohio. When is the ACLU going to sue claiming the defendant's civil rights are being violated?

Linked to- Amboy Times, Perri Nelson, StikNstein,

CLEVELAND - No soup for you!

A man and a woman accused of scamming stores out of millions of dollars have been banned from the courthouse cafeteria after a police officer said the two were spotted lifting food.

"If they do that in here, then what are they doing out there on bond?" said Richmond Heights police Sgt. Chuck Duffy.

Duffy said Joan Hall, 65, loaded a takeout lunch into a plastic bag and set it atop a newspaper rack near the checkout counter. Then, he said, Roger Neff, 75, moved the lunch to the top of a trash can, where they waited for a few minutes, then left with the lunch.

Judge Nancy Fuerst banned them from the cafeteria during the trial. "You bring your lunch," she said.

Edward LaRue, Neff's attorney, said on Wednesday that he was prohibited by the judge from talking about the trial or what happened in the cafeteria.

Prosecutors said Hall masterminded a scam involving revolving-door department store returns, switched sales tags and phony identities. Neff, who prosecutors say is her longtime boyfriend, is a co-defendant in the case.