Revenge is sweet, but laughing at dumb ex-boyfriends is even sweeter.
Colorado man Gary Belote allegedly robbed the bank where his ex-girlfriend works after she dumped him, where every single person knew him on sight, according to The Gazette.
"He robbed a bank where people knew him," Colorado Springs police Sgt. Scott Whittington told the paper. "Everybody was like, 'Oh, that's Gary.'"
The teller said he recognized Belote, 30, as he allegedly used a note to rob the USB Bank just west of Memorial Park around 1:45 p.m. on Thursday.
The alleged robber's ex was out for lunch during the stickup — after which Belote made his getaway on foot, later catching a ride with a stranger, cops said.
Officers found someone who knew the man Belote hitched a ride with while interviewing witnesses, called the driver and found out the intersection where he'd dropped the alleged ex-boyfriend bandit.
A man bolted for the exit the moment police Sgt. Bob Benjamin entered the nearby Salvation Army homeless shelter to ask if someone there knew Belote. A worker told Benjamin that was his man.
"I wasn't in there three seconds and he was out the door," Benjamin told The Gazette.
Belote almost smacked into Officer Eric Apodaca and Sgt. Angelo Butierres as he rounded the corner — and police said he had the loot crudely stuffed in his sock.
"It was hilarious. He didn't have a chance," Butierres told The Gazette. "I've been doing this for 24 years, and I've caught a lot of bad guys, but not that easily. It doesn't really get any easier than that."
— Thanks to Out There reader Jennifer G.
Talk About a Clean Escape!
Prison officials in Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday showed off a soap gun a man used to escape police custody Sunday, according to local KETV 7 News.
Cops re-arrested Raymond Thomas, 20, Monday after he allegedly threatened two guards Sunday with a fake gun made with soap and ink from a pen.
The prison guards were transporting Thomas to jail from the Nebraska Medical Center when they say he threatened them and took their county car, according to KETV News.
Thomas allegedly pressed the soap gun against a guard's head, convincing him it was real before making his escape, investigators believe.
The Douglas County Department of Corrections is standing behind the guards from whose custody Thomas slipped, Director Robert Patton said.
— Click in the photo box above to see a picture of the clean getaway.
— Click in the video box above or click here to watch a video on the clean getaway.
The Bubble Gum Bandit Revealed!
The Brevard County, Fla., Sheriff's Office released a composite image Saturday of the "bubble gum bandit" who has stolen huge gumball machines from several area businesses, according to WKMG-TV Local 6 News.
According to local WFTV 9 News, cops were stunned to learn that even a preschool was hit. The sticky-fingered thief cut a fence and delicately removed a window back — all just to get to a candy machine.
As earlier reported in Out There, the "bubble gum bandit" has hit almost 20 gum-holding establishments in Brevard County, including a pool supply store, restaurants — even the Division of Driver Licenses.
A witness to the sweet-toothed thievery at Beef O'Brady's restaurant gave cops a description, saying the suspect was about 40 years old with brown eyes, 6 feet, 3 inches tall and about 200 pounds, according to Local 6 News.
Local 6 News posted a picture of the resulting composite image on their Web site.
The paper Florida Today reported that the suspect was last seen wearing a green beanie cap, blue jeans and dark colored jacket — and is a homeless man, according to Brevard sheriff's agents.
"This particular individual is looking for gumball candy and candy machines," Melbourne police spokesman Angela Bozorth told Local 6 News.
A video shows a man with the same likeness swiping a jumbo gumball machine from Paradise Pools.
"For whatever reason, he didn't take anything else from the store, nothing," Paradise Pools worker Carol Joseph told Local 6 News. "Maybe he has a bubble gum fetish."
— Thanks to Out There readers Kurtis B. and Lincoln G.
Ime a Motel Burglurr
FORT BRAGG, Calif. (AP) — A man on a weekend getaway was arrested after allegedly burglarizing the Fort Bragg motel where he was staying, then leaving a note indicating where to find him.
Enrique Rodriguez Vasquez, 37, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and possession of methamphetamine after police confronted him at the Best Western motel room he'd described in the note.
Police found a computer hard drive, television satellite device and $200 reported missing from the motel, said Fort Bragg Police Lt. Floyd Higdon. The stolen equipment was valued at $1,500.
Vasquez's poorly spelled note berated the motel manager for being absent from the office.
"There was no one here to attend us guest in rm427. You even left the office unattended. You could have been burglurized ... Your lucky I didn't steele," the note said in part.
Vasquez said his companion, Dana Lynn Jensen, 41, was unaware of the theft until afterward. She did however, admit owning half the methamphetamine and the stolen cash was in her suitcase, authorities said.
She was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property and possession of a controlled substance.
— Thanks to Out There reader Don W.
Care to Arrest Me? Here's My Card
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A drug dealer who handed out business cards that read, "For a quick hit on time call the boss" has been arrested after police called the number on the card and arranged to buy $40 worth of crack cocaine.
When the 21-year-old suspect showed up Friday afternoon at the arranged meeting place, police nabbed him.
"It certainly makes our jobs easier," said Maj. Pat Kitchens, deputy chief of the Leavenworth Police Department.
In the suspect's possession, police found 12 grams of what was believed to be crack cocaine, $512 in cash, a scale and a cell phone.
With the suspect in custody, police called the number on the card again, and the cell phone rang.
The case has been forwarded to the Leavenworth County attorney's office for a possible charge of possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell.
— Thanks to Out There readers Amber B., Andy E. and Terry R.
Alas, Losing Weight Will Only Get You So Far
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — A prison inmate who shed 31 pounds so he could escape through a narrow hole in a wall has been recaptured after three days on the run in Sydney, the prison department said Sunday.
Robert Cole, 36, who was serving time for sex offenses and armed robbery, escaped from a hospital wing of Sydney's Long Bay Jail on Wednesday through 6-inch wide hole he had chiseled in the brickwork beside a window frame. He had been undergoing treatment for a psychiatric illness.
As earlier reported in Out There, Cole reportedly managed to escape by reducing his weight to 123 pounds by taking laxatives.
He was recaptured in a Sydney shopping mall Saturday disguised with a beard drawn on his face with a pen, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
Corrective Services Department spokeswoman Candace Sutton on Sunday confirmed Cole had been recaptured and was being held in a maximum-security facility in Goulburn Prison, 124 miles southwest of Sydney.
He will appear in a Sydney court on Jan. 30 either in person or by video link from prison charged with escape, Sutton said.
It was not clear how much more of his original sentence Cole still had to serve, nor what penalty he faced on the escape charge.
Take the Stinky Express
SHANGHAI, China (AP) — Along with food and firecrackers, Chinese are adding a new item to their lunar New Year shopping: adult diapers.
Sales have soared ahead of the holiday as travelers prepare for long trips home aboard trains so crowded that even the toilets are jammed with people, newspapers said Tuesday.
In Foshan, a southern industrial city with a large migrant population, supermarkets report diaper sales have risen 50 percent since the main travel season began on Jan. 14, the papers said.
The problem arises from the need to sell twice as many tickets as there are train seats to accommodate the crush of travelers. Those without seats must find some place — any place — to put themselves, including in overhead racks, between cars and in toilets.
Just purchasing a ticket can mean lining up for hours.
Chinese will this year make around 2 billion plane, train, ship and automobile journeys during the 40 days around the holiday, which this year falls on Jan. 29. Trains carry around 4 million people per day over the period.
"The deep seated concept of a reunion with families ... prompts people to repeat the journeys, even though they know clearly how difficult the journeys are," psychologist Pan Hong was quoted as telling China Daily.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Andrew Hard.
Got a good "Out There" story in your hometown? We'd like to know about it. Send an e-mail with a Web link (we need to authenticate these things) to outthere@foxnews.com.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox