Crime File: Crook Steals GTA IV, Has Real-world Intro to Jail

Crime File: Crook Steals GTA IV, Has Real-world Intro to Jail

April 30, 2008
Police in San Diego arrested a 27-year-old man yesterday and charged him with robbing a GameStop location, pepper-spraying two employees there and stealing a launch day copy of Grand Theft Auto IV.

Richard Fiel (at left, in the back of a police car) found that it's tougher to shake real cops than GTA IV's animated ones and was busted after a short standoff.

In addition to GTA IV, Police found a copy of GTA III and a PlayStation 3 controller in his pickup truck. A San Diego PD spokesperson told the local NBC affiliate:
The call came out as a robbery of a commercial business... and the suspect was described, and the vehicle that he got into was described as a white Toyota pickup truck, lifted with the tailgate down, and our helicopter ABLE spotted the vehicle southbound. The officers followed it.

There was no word on how many police alert stars Fiel's crime generated.
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Comments

Submitted by PHOENIXZERO - April 30, 2008 at 1:02 pm -0500
They're going to be showing it on CNNHN.... Or they probably have already since the stupid thing loops every 30 minutes.
Submitted by KayleL - April 30, 2008 at 6:53 am -0500
I hope no one uses the excuse of GTAIII taught him to do it. If he is stealing GTAIV, then ofcourse he played GTAIII.
Submitted by chadachada123 - April 30, 2008 at 2:45 pm -0500
hax. You can't use pepper spray. But I would have to say 3 stars
Submitted by Ryan the Gamer - April 30, 2008 at 6:42 am -0500
I'm gonna take a stab at it and say... 5 stars. This was clearly a game-motivated robbing and should be sensationalized along with the rest of the mass hysteria surrounding this atrocious game.

>.>

/off Sarcasm.
Submitted by Unrated - April 30, 2008 at 6:45 am -0500
5 Stars would call in army,
4 would be swat,
3 they bring in a heli
2 they start shooting
1 ... erm I guess they would club you if you got near em.
So I have to go with two.
Submitted by Salen - April 30, 2008 at 6:46 am -0500
I saw this on the news. The guy started kicking the door when the news crews filmed him in the car and the police threatened to tase him.

Good times. Good times.
Submitted by Twin-Skies - April 30, 2008 at 6:51 am -0500
For once, a game made an idiot do the crime
Submitted by Shoehorn O'Plenty - April 30, 2008 at 6:56 am -0500
It's funny how many of the alarmists would decry this as a game related robbery.

In reality, where the rest of us live, the correct term is MONEY related robbery.
Submitted by mogbert - April 30, 2008 at 7:46 am -0500
I'm going to be using this concept for the next few weeks, so forgive me if I'm still ironing out some of the phrasing.

GTA doesn't make someone into a criminal. If someone comits a crime, like stealing GTA, it isn't unusual and has been done consistantly for all games at all retail locations (the shrink percentages in video games is relatively high in all retail markets). With any game that sell several million copies, you are going to get a cross section of humanity, from the best of the best to the lowest of the low.

The gaming comunity never claimed that all gamers are saints.
Submitted by SimonBob - April 30, 2008 at 7:47 am -0500
Is five stars an army now? It was six in the last game. If they called in the chopper, though, then he brought it up to at least three.

Anyway, I think we're safe from the "GTA made me do it" excuse, since there's no pepper spray in the game. Unless there is now. I'm a little behind the times since they didn't release a version for a system I own. They really should've ported it to the SNES for me.
Submitted by DavCube - April 30, 2008 at 7:54 am -0500
I think even Thompson could see that, stealing several copies, his only goal was to sell on ebay.
Submitted by MattK - April 30, 2008 at 7:54 am -0500
You suppose the "evidence" from the earlier post on JT refers to this? Sure, the guy is in San Diego, not Florida, but when has that ever stopped him from interfering in something that doesn't concern him?
Submitted by Cidas - April 30, 2008 at 8:08 am -0500
27 years old? He looks like a kid in the picture.
Submitted by LightWarrior - April 30, 2008 at 8:20 am -0500
I wonder if this will get a blind eye only because the guy's 27.
Submitted by Jon Kanders - April 30, 2008 at 8:56 am -0500
Epic. Fail.
Submitted by Matt - April 30, 2008 at 9:34 am -0500
Have fun in the pokey, ya dope!
Submitted by Gameclucks - April 30, 2008 at 9:58 am -0500
Richard Feil? More like Richard FAIL!! amirite?

Talk about being the captain of the failboat.
Submitted by Paulk - April 30, 2008 at 10:03 am -0500
Why do asshats do this... now the news reports that crazed gamers go to steal games...
Submitted by IllegallyMindedJohn - April 30, 2008 at 10:13 am -0500
1 Star.

idiot.
Submitted by Zmobie - April 30, 2008 at 10:38 am -0500
lol he maced 2 people for GTA haha! i walked into wal mart at noon picked up a copy and walked out...he probially got 1 star lol
Submitted by Rodrigo Ybáñez García - April 30, 2008 at 10:47 am -0500
If he says GTA teached him to do it, then he is the worst fan GTA have ever had.
Submitted by Bongotezz - April 30, 2008 at 12:18 pm -0500
what a dumbass.
Submitted by Icehawk - April 30, 2008 at 12:55 pm -0500
I have to go along with the general idea of this jerk being an idiot. Pepper spraying GS employees. Yeah they can be annoying but they just doing their jobs. Cannot even claim GTA4 made him do it, as he stole it and was busted before playing.

Ah no. I hope they put him in a place far from polite society.
Submitted by PHOENIXZERO - April 30, 2008 at 1:11 pm -0500
Well, they didn't really show that but they talked about the game, mainly the business and that it was Rated M for Mature.
Submitted by Smarty Pants - April 30, 2008 at 3:44 pm -0500
Just because a guy steals lots of copies of GTA IV dosen't mean all gamers are psychos who are willing to hurt people to get their favorite games!
1 star on the wanted scale and intelligence
Submitted by Xlorep DarkHelm - April 30, 2008 at 3:46 pm -0500
@KayleL
I hope no one uses the excuse of GTAIII taught him to do it. If he is stealing GTAIV, then ofcourse he played GTAIII.


Nah, the excuse will be that GTAIV taught him to do it. Just sit a second, and think of the ramifications of that one. It hurts the brain.
Submitted by Loudspeaker - April 30, 2008 at 3:48 pm -0500
If he had played GTA he'd have already known that this crime would have never worked and the police would catch him :)
Submitted by Ravenhawk - April 30, 2008 at 6:46 pm -0500
The part I'm curious about is HOW he managed to accumulate three stars without killing any police officers. [/sarcasm]
Submitted by Ryot Control - April 30, 2008 at 7:00 pm -0500
Shoehorn O'Plenty was right on the money!

It's not game related robbery. I blame the economy.
Submitted by NL - May 1, 2008 at 2:09 am -0500
I bet he was on his way to respray the pickup before he got busted.
Submitted by SithLibrarian - May 1, 2008 at 3:43 pm -0500

There was no word on how many police alert stars Fiel’s crime generated.


I love you, Dennis.

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Posted 07/24/08 at 07:39am
sortableturnip: Best...comments...ever: http://jaablog.jaablaw.com/2008/07/06/jack-needs-your-help.aspx?pg=5&view=threaded
Posted 07/24/08 at 05:42am
sortableturnip: Alteffor: I 2nd that motion. GP you should have a special section for all of JT's correspondence to you
Posted 07/23/08 at 10:13pm
GRIZZAM PRIME: Lunatic: Nope. Ever fading if I'm not mistaken.
Posted 07/23/08 at 08:05pm
LuNaTiC: is there a way to view old shouts? sorry if its a noob question.
Posted 07/23/08 at 07:07pm
gamepolitics: momma didn't raise no sock puppet
Posted 07/23/08 at 06:15pm
Rodrigo Ybáñez García: Jack is a repressed man. Don´t be surprised...
Posted 07/23/08 at 06:07pm
GryphonOsiris: So Jack admitted paying for gay porn... all I can say is wow... just wow...
Posted 07/23/08 at 05:09pm
lumi: to the case, and he's been on 60 minutes once!
Posted 07/23/08 at 05:09pm
lumi: GP, you should mention you'll be filing a legal injunction against him if he doesn't comply. Phoenix Wright will be attached
Posted 07/23/08 at 03:32pm
Alteffor: You should add a section to the site for anything Jack CC's to you. It's always entertaining to read the stuff he writes.
Posted 07/23/08 at 03:31pm
Matriculated: Does anyone know when the Supreme Court reaches their decission?
Posted 07/23/08 at 03:04pm
Freyar: I demand to see this letter! (Not that I have any grounds to demand on.)
Posted 07/23/08 at 02:53pm
gamepolitics: JT called me a "sock puppet" in an e-mail to Hal Halpin... i gave him 24 hours to retract it, LOL
Posted 07/23/08 at 02:46pm
Haggard: Might want to take a look at what Anthony Horowitz wrote about GTA IV in the Telegraph, article seems to have been taken down
Posted 07/23/08 at 01:05pm
Silencets: Beutiful. I always did wonder about Jacko Wacko
Posted 07/23/08 at 10:24am
Matriculated: So Jack (an anti-gay activist) PAYED for gay porn
Posted 07/23/08 at 10:22am
Matriculated: [i]...and purchased membership.[/i]
Posted 07/23/08 at 10:21am
Matriculated: [i] few months later, as part of his ongoing campaign against Kent, Thompson followed links to gay porn on Kent's website[/i]
Posted 07/23/08 at 07:40am
sortableturnip: Jack's at it again: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2008/07/jack_thompson_faces_permanent.php
Posted 07/22/08 at 11:22pm
PHOENIXZERO: Ugh, that CNBC program "Play to Win" is it? Is on again...
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