Council Bluffs, Iowa – March Madness seems to apply to more than basketball these days, judging from a pair of recent outbursts by testy holiday characters.
First, there was a St. Patrick's Day leprechaun who held up a Laundromat in Montana. Now, there's a report of an aggressive Easter Bunny at a mall in Council Bluffs, Iowa, according to The Associated Press.
Council Bluffs police said that the bunny is Michael J. Desantiago Sr., 36. On Saturday, someone threw water and other items at him as he wore his bunny costume at the Mall of the Bluffs.
That made the bunny angry, police said.
Desantiago allegedly left the area, changed clothes and came back to tell a fellow employee he was leaving. The employee told police that Desantiago "got up in her face and started to yell at her."
She wasn't alone. Police said Desantiago then threatened another person if he didn't get out of his way.
In the end, he was charged with two counts of harassment.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Entire House Stolen, Very Slowly
LINDALE, Texas (AP) — When Smith County Constable Dennis Taylor got a call reporting a stolen house, his first question was, "Is it a trailer house, ma'am?"
"No, it's a brick house," the real estate company representative replied.
Board by board, shingle by shingle, for nearly three months, thieves dismantled a three-bedroom brick house in this East Texas town and carted it away until only a pile of rubble was left.
Authorities allege Brandon Ray Parmer, 29, and Darrell Patrick Maxfield, 44, both of Tyler, took the house apart and sold it for drugs, in plain view of everyone cruising along Lindale's main street.
Taylor said the men worked slowly and haphazardly in daylight, with no one questioning their work, because everyone assumed it was the work of two large retail stores laying new foundations nearby.
"It's the strangest case I've ever worked in my life," Taylor said. "Everybody drove by and waved at them."
Authorities also arrested Jesse Gino Vega, 36, who is accused of giving cash and methamphetamines to the other two men in exchange for the materials from the home.
Police recovered lumber worth about $25,000. They also found plumbing, bathroom and kitchen fixtures, fence materials, doors and windows.
Officers got "about five trailer loads of property that came out of that house," Taylor said, then paused. "Well, it didn't come out of the house. It was the house."
— Thanks to Out There readers Colin H., Robert O., Rachel C., Tracy M., Stacy S., Dustin O., Julia-Kathleen P., Rollie A., Evan L., Eric C. and Ross F.
Inattentive Thieves Leave Trail of Quarters
APPLETON, Wis. (AP) — An officer investigating a robbery at a store was checking outside for footprints in the snow when he noticed a quarter.
"He walked a little further and saw another coin, and then a little further he saw another one," Appleton Police Sgt. Pat DeWall said Tuesday.
Officers followed the trail south for four blocks, then turned west for a block, with the number of coins increasing as they proceeded — including a full roll of dimes at one point, he said.
Eventually, they found several coins on the front porch of a home.
Two of the home's residents were arrested.
Among the items missing from the store were nine cartons of cigarettes and $785 in bills and coins.
DeWall said the burglars loaded the stolen rolls of coins into a milk crate before they fled and speculated that some of the rolls started breaking apart and the coins fell through the slats.
— Thanks to Out There readers Grant R. and Gregory C.
Stinky-Sneakers Winners Overwhelm Judges
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Noah Nielsen's sneakers may reek something awful, but that stench has earned him some cold, hard cash.
Nielsen, 10, beat six other contestants from around the country Tuesday in the 30th annual National Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest (search). He won a $500 savings bond, a $100 check for new sneakers and a supply of Odor-Eaters products.
The secret to his success? "No socks, ever."
"The stank was from rubbing my toes back and forth and making them sweaty," said Nielsen, with his trophy in hand and two golden sneakers hanging from his neck.
Nielsen said he also played soccer and baseball in the three-year-old Adidas patched together with duct tape.
In the week leading up to this year's contest, he refused to take a bath. When his parents insisted, they found him with his feet hanging out of the tub, his father, Peter Nielsen, said.
The wide gaps in the shoes revealed grimy toes and emitted a pungent odor that drove one judge to gag, another to take a step back and a dog to roll on top of the sneakers.
"Human feet shouldn't smell that bad," judge Bill Fraser said.
"I didn't like that," Bill Aldrich of NASA said after he took a sniff.
"I'll just take a step back," judge Martha Tucker said. "Those are impressive."
Nielsen is a veteran of the competition. Last year he was a runner-up in the state event.
— Thanks to Out There readers Christina N. and Shannon O.
Compiled by FOX News' Paul Wagenseil.
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