Dude, Was It Really Worth the Bad Karma?

According to a news story on KPHO in Phoenix, AZ, a man was arrested on November 7 for stealing two thousand wedding gowns at an estimated value of some three million dollars from Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation, a charity which grants wishes to women dying of breast cancer much the way the Make A Wish Foundation grants wishes to terminally ill children.

The gowns disappeared from a hotel parking lot in Scottsdale, AZ on November 5, 2006. They were discovered on April 5 of this year, when a commercial driver was turned back from the Mexican border after Mexican authorities refused him entry to the country with his load of wedding gowns. Driver Ivan Mesa-Esparza claimed that he had no idea the gowns were stolen. He says he was hired by Alejandro Parra-Ruiz, a Mexican living legally in the US, to haul the gowns and had no reason to suspect there was any problem. Parra-Ruiz was arrested at his home in Laveen, Az last week, seven months after the gowns were recovered.

As for Parra-Ruiz, he claims he bought two thousand wedding gowns at a local swap meet, and also had no reason to suspect anything was wrong. Nor did he think to ask for a receipt.

If convicted, Parra-Ruiz faces ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

I think the lesson here is clear: if you’re buying two thousand wedding gowns at a swap meet, be sure to ask for a proper receipt.