Aug.11.2008 Lady who stole $500,000 worth of phone books is jailed

I like funny stories. Fark gave me this funny story.

Most people want to get rid of their old phone books, but a Las Cruces woman has been indicted for fraud for allegedly keeping more than 100,000 directories.

Fifty-five-year-old Debra Gottrell is accused of storing the books in three Las Cruces storage units during a four-year period instead of delivering them as she was hired to do.

Court records show she was indicted July 31st by a Dona Ana County grand jury on a charge of fraud.

A telephone listing for Gottrell was unavailable. There is no explanation of why she allegedly took the phone books.

The stash of directories was discovered when a worker at one of the storage units contacted Gottrell’s employer, Directory Plus.

Directory Plus owner Hugh Riddle says his company lost an estimated $500,000 from the lost directories.

This story kind of sucks without an explanation of why someone would do this. Because why the fuck would someone do this? Stealing phone books, a free product that barely anyone wants and even less people actually use, just seems silly. They’re kind of heavy, take up a lot of space, and serve no real purpose unless you’re a destitute pig in need of a home to build that the big bad wolf might not be able to blow down.

Also phone books are such an antiquated idea now. You might as well steal cures for polio or apartheid.

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